Iridescence
by chidorinnn
Summary: Two kingdoms at war, a princess locked in a tower, a mysterious song, and a cursed land lost in time. A reimagining of Fire Emblem Fates, where all three routes are one.
1. Chapter 1

_Before you start reading, I should probably warn you that this will not be a standard game novelization. A lot of this will probably be considered AU on the grounds that it doesn't reflect any one route in particular, and this will contain a lot of my personal theories about the world of Fire Emblem Fates._

 _So… things I'm hoping to accomplish with this:_

 _Make sense of the plot of Fire Emblem Fates – including supplemental information from DLC storylines (the Hidden Truths one in particular)_

 _Incorporate and consolidate elements from all routes_

 _Expand the roles of characters that received less attention in the canon narrative (Lilith being the most glaring example)_

 _To emphasize that this story won't really be canon, the protagonist's name is different, though her personality will remain largely the same (albeit expanded in certain places to adjust for different circumstances, and with some aspects taken to their logical extremes). The protagonist also specializes in staves, because there's something dubious about a sword, a weapon, meant to bring peace._

 _Well, with that out of the way, enjoy!_

* * *

Fuyu woke slowly, roused from dreams she could only half-remember.

"Lady Fuyu?"

There had been Hoshidans in the most vivid one – Hoshidans that called her _sister_. They were on a battlefield, someplace bright and filled with green under a blue, orange, and pink sky. Her siblings were there as well – Xander on his horse, his perpetual frown broken when he saw her safe and unharmed. Camila rushed to her side, quickly trapping her in an embrace so tight that Fuyu nearly suffocated.

And then the Hoshidans pulled her back, shouting at her siblings to get away.

"It's time to wake up."

There had been a woman, impossibly beautiful with hair as blue as the lake she waded into. She sang Fuyu's lullaby in a light, airy voice. Water swirled about her as she continued to sing, and she waded further and further in until Fuyu could no longer tell where the water ended and the woman began.

"Oh dear. It seems our dear princess hasn't completely awakened yet. Felica, would you please assist me?"

There had been a man in a white hood, humming Fuyu's lullaby as the woman's voice melted into his. He laid his hand gently on top of Fuyu's head and gave her a smile that made her want to stay by his side forever. _"Please… come home."_

And then, everything was cold.

Fuyu shrieked as she bolted upright. "I'm awake!" she shouted on impulse, shivering. She blinked rapidly as her eyes slowly adjusted to the dim lamp of the glow by her bedside. It was still dark outside, and the clouds were so thick that it looked like the sun wouldn't come out at all.

There were no Hoshidans there to call her _sister_. There was only Flora and Felicia, giggling as they withdrew their still freezing hands. There was Gunter, stifling a laugh of his own as he offered his arm to help her stand. There was Jakob, laying her clothes out on the table by the window. There was a stack of Leo's books under the table, Camilla's quilt folded by her ankles on top of her red bedspread, Elise's miniature tea set and dolls still out from her visit the previous day, Fuyu's own healing staff propped up against the wall next to the door.

This… was home.

Fuyu laid her hand on Gunter's arm lightly enough so that it looked like she was accepting his offer and simultaneously showing him that she didn't need any assistance to begin with. She grabbed her clothes and made her way behind a partition that blocked her view of the window and the door, Flora and Felicia at her heels. "You interrupted an interesting dream," she complained.

"Oh?" Flora said delicately. Fuyu refused her help in changing – if she was going to be strong enough to win her father's approval, then she would have to do these things by herself.

"What was it about?" Felicia asked, somehow wrinkling Fuyu's dress even though she was barely touching it at all. Flora slapped her hand away lightly, and then smoothed out the creases in Fuyu's dress that her sister had created.

"Mm…" Fuyu said. "There were these Hoshidan soldiers that said I was their sister." She shook her head, laughing quietly to herself. "It's probably because I stayed up too late reading."

Flora gave her a serene smile. Like all of her smiles, it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm sure that's it, milady."

From the other side of the partition, Gunter cleared his throat. "Do you remember what day it is, milady?"

"It's definitely not my birthday," Fuyu answered flatly. She had that particular date circled on her calendar, and it was months off.

"It might as well be," Gunter said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

Her mind worked slowly, still dulled by sleep. Her birthdays were usually spent with her siblings – all of them at once, and not individually – and her siblings' birthdays followed a similar pattern. There were often presents – a dress sewn by Camilla, some books from Leo, a doll she was supposed to have outgrown from Elise – but they always dulled in comparison to the joy of spending an entire day, uninterrupted, with her siblings.

It wasn't her birthday; Leo's birthday had already passed, and Xander's, Camilla's, and Elise's wouldn't come for a long while. There was nothing to celebrate, and yet…

"They're coming today!" Fuyu said excitedly. In a rush, she pulled on her shoes and grabbed the staff by the door. She managed a small curtsey that looked like an awkward stumble. "Thank you, Gunter!" And then she ran – all the way down the stairs to the ground floor, and then down the hall.

She barreled straight into her oldest brother, and he let out a small grunt as he threw his arm around her shoulders instinctively, bracing her against him so that they wouldn't fall. "Easy there, Fuyu," Xander said, and his smile looked less like a grimace than it usually did.

Fuyu dropped the staff and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "You came!"

Xander chuckled. "Of course I did." He bent down to pick up her staff and then handed it back to her. "Shall we get started? Leo's waiting for us."

"Yes!" Fuyu said excitedly. "I've been training with Gunter, you know. This time, I'll finally beat you!"

Xander laughed and ruffled her hair. "We'll see, little princess."

* * *

Objectively speaking, Fuyu hated training with practice swords, and that was exactly the kind of training that Xander would insist upon every time he visited. It would only take a few sparring rounds, sometimes even fewer than that, for the novelty of Xander's visit to wear off – those rounds consisted less of Fuyu actually swinging her practice sword and more of Xander landing blow after blow after blow because she was too slow to parry or dodge, or because she dodged the wrong way. He never used anywhere close to half his full strength on her – Leo made that abundantly clear whenever he chastised her for not taking her training seriously.

Gunter said it was an honor to train under the crown prince – an honor not extended to anyone but the strongest in the military – but Fuyu hated how it seemed to transform Xander into an entirely different person – someone harsh and unforgiving, so unlike the kind and gentle brother she'd come to know.

So when he knocked her back with minimal effort, after she'd charged at him with what felt like everything she had, she wasn't so sure she wanted to get up again. "I know you can do better than that," Xander said sternly, his grip tightening around his practice sword.

"Big Brother—" she said breathlessly.

"How do you suppose you'll defend yourself from your enemies? Father has been tracking your progress, you know."

"Wh-What?" Xander thrust his practice sword at her, but she raised her own too slowly, and the impact sent her crashing painfully to the ground. "D-Did he say anything?"

Xander scowled. "He was disappointed, to say the least."

To the side, Leo scoffed. "You won't beat the strongest knight in Nohr by sleeping all day, dear sister."

"I know that!" Fuyu snapped at him as she staggered to her feet. Her arm hurt where Xander had hit her before, and she struggled to maintain a firm grip on her practice sword.

"Come at me again," said Xander. He hadn't even broken into a sweat, and it wasn't fair in the slightest. "Don't hold back."

"I'm not!"

" _Yes_ , you are." For a split second, he looked almost pained. "You'll never improve if you don't come at me with the intent to kill."

But the fact of the matter was that Fuyu just wasn't _good_ at fighting. Swords felt awkward and clunky in her hands, but staves were an entirely different matter. There was something fulfilling about watching someone's wounds disappear in a single instantaneous flash of light – it was infinitely preferable to watching new bruises and cuts form. Not to mention—

"If this were a real battle, you'd be dead by now," Leo said dryly.

"I know!" Fuyu snapped. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and then slowly readjusted her grip on her practice sword. It wasn't Xander in front of her, she tried to convince herself, but rather a Hoshidan soldier trying to kidnap her, just like the Hoshidan king had tried to do all those many years ago. When she charged at Xander again, it wasn't her brother that she saw.

He parried every blow she sent his way, but then dropped his guard – or, more likely, he decided to take pity on her. Fuyu took the opportunity to thrust the practice sword forward, into his stomach. Xander let out a small grunt from the impact, and Fuyu stumbled back, suddenly aware of where she was and who she was fighting.

He recovered quickly. "Think fast!" he said as he swung his practice sword at her. With a shriek of surprise, she ducked out of the way. When Xander smiled, she noted with a hint of pride that she hadn't fallen or even stumbled this time. "Good."

Fuyu released the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding, and smiled. "Yes!" she cheered.

"Don't get too arrogant, Fuyu," Leo quipped. "You still have a long way to go before you're anywhere close to beating him."

She puffed her cheeks in annoyance. "I know, but… I got a hit in today!" Father will be pleased with that, won't he?"

"I'm sure he will," Xander said gently. "Now—"

"I believe it's our turn now?"

Fuyu gasped when her sisters approached her from behind. Camilla stood with one hand braced on her hip, smiling warmly, and Elise practically bounced on the balls of her feet. "If they were the enemy, you'd be dead by now," Leo said dryly.

"Yeah, but we're _not_ ," Elise pointed out. She took one more look at Leo, and then burst into a fit of giggles. "By the way…"

Fuyu glanced over at him, and then giggled as well. "Oh, right!" she said. "There's something I forgot to tell you."

"Is it really so important that we must derail the current conversation?" Leo asked with an exasperated sigh.

"Your collar…" Elise started.

"It's inside out," Fuyu finished.

Leo flinched, his perfectly composed mask disintegrating at once. "Wh-What?" He jerked his head to one side, and then to the other as he tried to get a decent look at his collar.

Xander laughed. "It seems that _someone_ got dressed while still half asleep this morning."

With a quiet laugh of her own, Camilla made her way behind him. "Here, let me fix it," she said.

Leo's face turned scarlet, and he refused to look Fuyu and Elise in the eye. "You should have said something sooner…"

Camilla pat Leo twice on the back when she was done. "Have you told her the good news yet?"

The smile never left Xander's face. "No, not yet. You see—"

But before he could get another word in, Elise leaped excitedly in front of Fuyu and grabbed both of her hands, swinging them back and forth. "Father wants you to come back to the capital!"

"He _what_?" Fuyu looked from Elise, to Camilla, to Leo, and then finally to Xander. "But you said he was disappointed!"

Xander's smile widened. "That might have been a small white lie. It seems to have fulfilled its purpose and sufficiently motivated you, at any rate."

Fuyu puffed her cheeks again. "That's not fair!"

"It's your own fault for being so gullible," Leo retorted. "You shouldn't take people at their word so easily, dear sister."

"Camilla!" Fuyu whined. "Make them stop!"

Her sister chuckled, one hand delicately covering her mouth. "All right, that's quite enough," she said. "Are you ready for our round of training?"

Leo sighed. "Yes, of course." Xander nodded and smirked confidently.

Fuyu smiled, and couldn't be more thankful to discard the practice sword in favor of her healing staff.

Camilla turned to smile at her and Elise. "Are you two ready?"

"Yes!" Fuyu and Elise answered in unison.

Camilla flipped her hair over her shoulder, and her smile turned vaguely sinister when she looked back to Xander and Leo. "I hope you two are prepared. I don't intend on holding back."

* * *

It was a long, long way to Windmire.

The Northern Fortress was one of Nohr's lesser known strongholds, and one of its better kept secrets. On paper, Fuyu held full jurisdiction over it, her will second only to that of King Garon himself. The reality wasn't quite so romantic – there was little to do in the Northern Fortress, and Castle Krakenburg had even littler to do with it even though one of its royalty resided in it. It was far enough away from the capital and secluded enough that a decent number of Nohrian citizens knew nothing of it aside from the usual assumptions – that it was a place to fall back to in the worst case scenario, and that it housed a fair share of Nohr's weaponry, textiles, and books, but little else.

On foot, it would take at least half a day to reach the capital from there, but carriages reduced the travel time to a couple of hours. Fuyu left for the capital with her siblings shortly after hearing the good news. Gunter and Jakob had decided to accompany her, while Flora and Felicia were ordered to stay.

So Fuyu soon found herself sitting in a carriage with Lilith, the stablehand and one of her closer friends. Camilla had been surprisingly gracious about it, and Gunter had managed to usher Jakob away just this one instance. There wouldn't be many more chances to see Lilith when Fuyu moved back into the main castle, and she wanted to make the most of what little time she had left.

It all felt like a lifetime away.

Even with the extra time, they didn't do much talking at all. Fuyu clasped her hands tightly together in her lap, looking out the window but not really seeing anything that passed by.

"Lady Fuyu?" Lilith said in a small voice. "Are you all right?"

Fuyu inhaled as much as she could – she couldn't take a full breath – as her heart raced. "I'm just nervous," she said. "It's been so long since I last saw Father… and what if what Xander said is true? What if Father really _is_ disappointed in me?"

Lilith giggled. She was always so relaxed about big changes like this, so perhaps it was only natural that she didn't react too strongly to the sudden move. "If he was, then I don't think he'd be welcoming you back like this."

Fuyu exhaled slowly and smiled. "I suppose you're right."

Fidgeting with the hem of her skirt, Lilith looked downward. "Why _did_ you come to the Northern Fortress anyway?"

"Honestly…" Fuyu replied slowly. "I don't remember half of it myself. All I know is that Hoshidans tried to kidnap me as a child, and Father kept me there for my own protection."

"Really? So it has nothing to do with your health?"

Fuyu shook her head. "I'm sure that's at least part of why I stayed there so long." She tipped to the side and rested her head against the window. "Father said he wanted me to be strong. Although…" She sighed again.

"Lady Fuyu?" Lilith prompted in a small voice. Her name always sounded awkward and clunky on Lilith's tongue, but today, somehow, it was even worse than usual.

"Xander said that Father's health… hasn't been good lately," Fuyu said quietly. "Maybe Father was simply delirious when he said he wanted me to come back. O-Or perhaps he's so badly off that he…"

Lilith took one of Fuyu's hands and squeezed it comfortingly. It wasn't the first time Fuyu expressed such doubts to her, and it wasn't the first time Lilith tried to comfort her in such a way. "If I may… those are just possibilities. It might be best not to dwell on it."

"I suppose…"

The carriage drew to a halt then, and Lilith quickly withdrew her hand before anyone in the other carriages could see her lack of propriety. Fuyu straightened up in her seat and smoothed out her dress. "We're finally here," Lilith said. Fuyu nodded in return. "Lady Fuyu…" But then Lilith clamped her mouth shut, clasping her hands tightly together in her lap.

"What is it?" Fuyu asked.

Lilith smiled. "Nothing. Or rather… it's not important. I'll tell you later."

The carriage door swung open, revealing a very excited Elise who bounced incessantly on the balls of her feet. "Are you ready?" she asked in a voice so cheerful that Fuyu felt her worries and anxieties melting away instantly.

"Mm-hm," she replied, stepping out of the carriage to join her siblings.

Lilith parted ways with her there, and she went to join Gunter and Jakob. "Good luck, Lady Fuyu!" she said, waving.

* * *

King Garon was a tall, broad-shouldered man who sat proudly and fearlessly on his throne despite his sickly grey complexion. Camilla often threatened Xander that, if he were to keep frowning like he usually did, his forehead would look a lot like their father's before he reached the age of thirty.

Garon looked up without lifting his head when Fuyu entered the room. It was impossible not to think about his gaze on her, evaluating everything about her from her appearance – she always felt too small and awkward and delicate in his presence – to even the slightest twitch of her fingers. "I see you've returned," he said, his voice gravely but still powerful.

Fuyu quickly dipped into the most graceful curtsey she could manage. "It's good to see you again, Father," she said. No, that was wrong – it was too informal, too overly familiar.

Sure enough, his brow wrinkled with displeasure. "Xander and Leo have informed me of your progress," he said. "I hear you still have a long way to go before reaching the strength of either of them."

So he _was_ disappointed. And why wouldn't he be, if she'd only just landed her first blow on Xander and hadn't even graduated from practice swords? "I'm sorry," she said immediately. "I-I was ill recently, and…" No, that was definitely the wrong thing to say. It sounded like an excuse, and Garon had very little patience for excuses. Saying that she'd been ill was reiterating why he'd kept her in the Northern Fortress for so long, and it was of little consequence when she was ill so irritatingly often to begin with.

"Silence," he said firmly.

"I'm sorry…" Fuyu mumbled quietly. Her face grew hot, and she bowed her head, praying that her cheeks weren't quite as red as it felt like they were.

"However," he continued, "I have been informed that your tactical genius is almost on par with Leo's."

"Well I wouldn't call it _genius_ …" she whispered. Leo jabbed his elbow into her side, and she immediately backtracked. "I mean... I've been studying. Diligently. To, um, compensate for my lack of physical strength." No, that was the wrong thing to say. "N-Not to say that I _have_ no physical strength, but the fact is—"

"Silence," Garon said again.

"I'm sorry," Fuyu said again. Xander sighed, and she wanted to melt into the floor.

"As you know," Garon continued, "Nohr is at war with the eastern kingdom of Hoshido." Fuyu nodded. "We of the royal family are descendants of the First Dragons. We must use this divine strength to conquer those who oppose us. Xander, Camilla, and Leo have already shown that they possess this power, and I expect no less from you."

"Yes, Father," Fuyu said.

"If you are to serve Nohr," he said, "then you will need a suitable weapon. Iago?"

Out from the shadows walked his head tactician, a tall man with long, stringy black hair. "Of course, your grace." He stepped forward, carrying something long wrapped in a fine, deep red cloth.

Unconsciously, Fuyu looked to Xander. Her brother frowned, but then ultimately nodded in her direction.

She stepped toward Iago slowly, hesitantly, and pulled away the cloth, uncovering a long, dark sword with a curved blade glowing purple with something that looked vaguely like Dark magic. "This is Ganglari," Garon said, "a sword infused with magic from another world. See to it that it does not go to waste."

She'd never received a gift from her father before. The mere thought of it made her feel giddy, and she was suddenly sure that she'd done something right, that despite any disappointment he might have displayed earlier there was still a part of him that was proud of her. "Thank you so much, Father," she said.

"Now, let us see you put that sword to proper use," he said instead of responding to her words. "Bring out the prisoners!"

"Yes sir!" shouted a soldier. As he ran off, Fuyu gripped Ganglari tightly. Prisoners meant that Father would want her to… she didn't want to think about it. Prisoners likely meant Hoshidans, since Nohr was at war with Hoshido. Maybe her kidnappers, or people who wished to kidnap her yet again. The image of someone large and imposing, with long hair sticking out in multiple directions, came to mind, and Fuyu shivered.

Instead, the soldier returned with a man and a woman, both covered in scratches and bruises. The man was taller than her, sure, but the woman was rather close to her height. They were both still armed – the woman with an axe and the man with a pair of knives – and Fuyu didn't know if that was a testament to their weakness or her father's confidence.

"These are prisoners from our most recent skirmish with Hoshido," Garon said. "Finish them."

The woman squirmed in the soldier's grasp, her grip tightening around her axe. Her hair was pale though her skin was dark, and there were red markings on her cheeks that Fuyu didn't recognize. "I swear on my father's honor that I will not fail here," she spat. Fuyu willed herself not to flinch at her blatant display of aggression. "Nohrian scum… prepare yourself!" She charged at Fuyu, raising her axe.

Fuyu instinctively raised her sword to block the attack and bit her lower lip to keep herself from crying out in alarm. The woman continued to charge at her relentlessly, forcing Fuyu to remain on the defensive. "Fuyu!" Camilla called out from the sidelines. "Remember your training. You have a sword to her axe, so you're at an advantage!"

"Silence," Garon snapped at her.

The male prisoner frowned. He crossed his arms over his chest and buried his nose in his scarf. "Fuyu…?" he repeated quietly to himself.

When the woman charged at her again, Fuyu dodged in the correct direction so smoothly that she could almost picture Xander smiling at her with pride. Her opponent only barely stumbled, but she took the opportunity to turn her sword around and ram the hilt into her chest. The woman fell back, her axe clattering to the ground, and Fuyu picked it up before she had time to react.

When she turned to look at the man, he knelt down and laid his knives on the ground. "I yield," he said gently, bowing his head and closing his eyes.

"Kaze!" the woman snapped as she staggered to her feet. "Don't tell me that—"

"Don't just stand there, idiot girl," Garon said. "Finish them!"

The man Kaze bowed down so that his forehead was pressed to his propped up knee. His expression was solemn, and his shoulders sagged with defeat. "I'm sorry, Rinkah," he said quietly.

The woman Rinkah sighed harshly and dropped to the floor next to him. "Fine," she said, bracing both palms against the ground. She squeezed her eyes shut and grit her teeth together. "Do what you must."

Rinkah. Kaze. Their names were clearly Hoshidan in nature, but the man and woman before her were nothing like the monsters that haunted Fuyu's worst nightmares. They were defenseless and utterly beaten, and all they had left was the hope for a quick and painless death – a death Garon wanted Fuyu to deliver.

This… This wasn't right.

"But they yielded!" she protested belatedly. "They're defenseless!"

Garon's brow furrowed further, and she shivered. "You dare question me? Kill them! That's an order!"

"B-But Father—"

"Insolent fool!" Magic swirled about his arm, and he pointed it toward Kaze. Fuyu didn't think. Before even she could process what was happening, she was standing between Kaze and her father, her sword bared defensively in front of her. She barely even registered the pain of the impact – it was likely only a small fraction of what Kaze would have suffered through if she'd left him to her father's wrath. _What… am I doing…?_ "You would defy me directly?"

"Father!" Xander interjected. "Please forgive her! She's only just arrived, so she doesn't understand our situation."

Slowly, Garon lowered his arm. "Fine. Xander, you kill the prisoners."

Xander grimaced, and Fuyu averted her eyes downward. She had no idea why she was even fighting – it was clearly disappointing her father, the last thing she wanted – but letting Rinkah and Kaze die was so much worse.

Her brother stepped toward her with slow, measured steps as he drew a glowing red sword. It wasn't the first time she'd seen Siegfried, but she'd never seen it pointed at someone, even though that was its exact purpose. "Xander, please…" she said quietly.

"I don't expect you to understand," he said just as quietly. "Hoshidans are our sworn enemy. We have to—"

"But they can't fight anymore! So why do we have to—"

Between Camilla and Elise, Leo sighed exasperatedly. "You two are utterly hopeless," he muttered. "I see the dirty work must fall to me yet again." As he stepped forward, Brynhildr flipped open, and its pages fluttered. He raised his arm just like Garon had done before, and in a flash of green light, Kaze and Rinkah were gone. "Please forgive my softhearted sister, Father," he said with a sneer. "Our enemies have been dispatched, just as you ordered. I only ask that you be merciful in her punishment."

The rage seemed to melt off of Garon, and his shoulders slumped too much for it to be anything but a sign of his now noticeably poorer health. "I will consider the matter," was all he said before stalking off, his tactician following him closely.

* * *

"Leo!" Fuyu followed her brother with her fists clenched at her sides. She gripped Ganglari tightly, unused to its weight and unsure of what to do with it aside from carrying it with her, and she stomped forward, struggling to keep up with her younger brother's long strides. Xander and Camilla walked several paces behind her, with Camilla and Xander whispering to each other in hushed voices. Elise trailed a few paces behind them, her hands behind her back and her head bent low. "Leo, they yielded! There was no reason to—"

He stopped suddenly and whirled around. With his boots, he was slightly taller than her, and with the way he was glaring at her, he seemed to be intentionally using the added height to his advantage. "Yes, agreed, now _hush_." He made a noise halfway between a grunt and a sigh, and his expression softened as he gently whacked her on the head with his tome. It didn't hurt in the slightest, but she flinched exaggeratedly anyway. "What were you thinking, arguing with Father like that?" he asked in a gentler voice.

"I…" Fuyu sighed, her previous irritation disappearing suddenly. "I don't know why I did that. I just… It wasn't right!"

"And you think we have a say in that?" Xander asked. He, Camilla and Elise had caught up to them by now, and he stood with his arms crossed over his chest. "We must obey Father, no matter what."

"But _why_?" Fuyu asked. "They were beaten, and they couldn't fight anymore! So why did we have to—"

"I agree with what you said in there," Camilla said calmly as she soothingly laid her hand on Fuyu's shoulder, "but arguing with Father like you did is practically a death sentence. He won't forgive a slight, you know."

"But Father's not going to do anything to Big Sister, is he?" Elise asked in a small voice. "I mean… she was right!"

"I know, but…" Camilla sighed. "You'll understand when you're older – both of you. Sometimes, there are people that just can't be reasoned with, and Father is one of them."

"Not to mention," Xander added, "it took a long time for us to convince Father to let you return. Are you really so ready to throw it away for the enemy?"

"They're not…" Fuyu started, but then that same image before – of someone large and imposing, with long hair sticking out in different directions – came to mind. "I mean… I guess they _are_ , but…" But they couldn't have been much older than she was. They probably had family and friends and entire livelihoods that would no doubt mourn their passing.

Leo cleared his throat. "If it's any consolation," he said, "that spell I used was a weak one. It should only have incapacitated them."

"Incapacitated…?" Fuyu echoed. "So that means they're okay!"

"Though whether they'll be smart and leave like they should, I can't say," Leo added.

"They were injured, weren't they?" Elise asked. She tugged on Fuyu's hand as she began to run.

"Yes definitely," Fuyu answered. "And I might have injured Rinkah more? If I hit her hard enough, that is."

"I brought your staff by the way."

"You never cease to amaze, Elise."

It was as if that dreadful confrontation with their father had never happened. For the first time since her siblings had told her she was allowed to return, Fuyu was able to _breathe_. Elise tossed her staff to her, and Fuyu promptly dropped Ganglari to catch it.

They found Rinkah and Kaze crouched by a fountain in the castle courtyard. "I told you not to overdo it," Kaze said calmly as he bandaged Rinkah's arm.

"You have no right to talk," Rinkah retorted, scowling. "You surrendered at the first sign of trouble."

"That's not why I…" Kaze started, but then he trailed off when he saw Fuyu and Elise.

"Are you okay?" Elise asked, eyebrows raised in concern. "You're not too badly hurt, are you?"

Rinkah's axe was still in the throne room, but the woman reached for one of Kaze's knives so quickly that Fuyu could barely process the motion. "Get back," she practically snarled.

Fuyu crouched before them and raised her healing staff, and Elise soon followed suit. Healing magic swirled around them both – Fuyu focused on Kaze while Elise worked on Rinkah – and soon the bruises and scratches disappeared without a trace. Rinkah snapped her head to the side, muttering curses under her breath, while Kaze stared up at Fuyu in wonder. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I… Well, I suppose I should have _known_ what Father wanted me to do, but…"

"Save it," Rinkah snapped. "Your words mean nothing, Nohrian scum."

"I know," Fuyu replied calmly, "but they're all I have."

Kaze tilted his head to the side. A strand of hair as green as the forests in Fuyu's books fell across his forehead, and a twinge of pink bloomed at his cheeks. His voice was surprisingly warm and gentle, not at all fitting for the greedy, gluttonous monsters Hoshidans were supposed to be. "Lady… Fuyu, was it?"

It was surprisingly easy to smile. "Yes, that's right. And you're Kaze?"

He exhaled slowly when the last of the healing magic surrounding him dissipated. "Yes."

Elise groaned in frustration. "Hold still!" she grumbled. "It's going to hurt more if you keep squirming like that!"

"Hmph," Rinkah said contemptuously. "As if I wanted to be indebted to some Nohrian—"

"Oh, you're not indebted," Elise cut her off. "Don't worry! We just want you guys to get home safe." Fuyu nodded in agreement.

The corners of Kaze's lips twitched upward with the tiniest of smiles. "Thank you," he said. "When we were captured, I was certain that only death would await us. Though if even Nohrian royalty is capable of such kindness… there may be hope for this desolate country after all."

"So this is where you were." Fuyu jumped at Xander's voice behind them, mentally cursing herself for not noticing his presence. When she looked to Leo, he shook his head at her in a way that practically screamed, _You would be dead right now if he were an enemy_. "Listen well: my sister's kindness has bought you your freedom. Leave now, lest you be spotted by the high king."

"You should be good to go now," Elise said as the healing magic surrounding Rinkah faded. "Don't overdo it on your way back, okay?"

"Y-You…" Rinkah scowled her gaze shifting from Fuyu, to Elise, and then back to Fuyu. "The next time we meet, I'll make you pay for this humiliation!" She ran off before Fuyu could utter a single word of protest.

Kaze stood slowly, and then bowed to Fuyu. "You have my gratitude," he said before following Rinkah.

Fuyu sighed as she watched them leave. Everything was going to be fine. They would get home safe, because Elise's skill with a healing staff was nearly on par with Leo's skill with a tome, and healing always came more naturally to Fuyu than fighting did.

She gripped her staff tightly with both hands. It would be fine – she would make sure of it.


	2. Chapter 2

Her siblings had always told her that King Garon's wrath was legendary. There was a reason Nohr was widely feared, after all, and not much of that reputation came from Xander's prowess on the battlefield. The prospect of being the target of her father's anger made Fuyu want to lock herself up in the Northern Fortress and never come out again. Seeing the outside world could wait another few decades, or at least until Garon had significantly calmed down.

But there was no way she could ask Lilith or Gunter to accompany her back there – not at this late an hour. There was also the option of simply avoiding her father and praying to every deity and dragon she knew of that he wouldn't press the issue, but there was no way that would happen – if anything, it would make him even more angry, and at that point, any hope of impressing him and winning his affection would be instantly gone.

So Fuyu lingered by the doors to the throne room, wringing her hands together nervously. This was something she had to do, she reminded herself, and yet it was difficult to summon the courage to move.

"I seriously doubt that Father will remain angry with you for long," Camilla had told her just a few minutes ago. Fuyu hadn't told her siblings about her half-serious plans of fleeing – disappointing them was even more frightening than incurring Garon's wrath.

"I know it can be… difficult… to deal with Father at times," Xander said, "but you need to remember that all he wants is for you to be strong."

"His idea of strength may be different from yours," Leo added, "but ultimately, your goals are the same."

"And even if he's still mad, we'll help you!" Elise finished. "So don't worry. Everything will be just fine!"

But nothing _felt_ fine. Fuyu couldn't breathe. Her father – at least just as angry as he'd been before, if not more so now – was on the other side of the doors. There was no telling what he'd do, or how he'd elect to punish her.

She raised her hand and quickly knocked twice on the door before she could lose her nerve enough to run away. "F-Father?" She clamped a hand over her mouth and mentally cursed herself for stuttering. "I-I…" Her voice continued to waver and shake, and she swallowed in hopes that it would clear her throat. "I just wanted to apologize…"

She squeezed her eyes shut. Her voice was barely louder than a whisper, and there was no way her father would have been able to hear her. She didn't think she could summon the courage to call out for him again, so she pressed her back against the door, wrapping her arms around herself as she sank to the floor. The hallway was thankfully empty – there was no one there to call out to her, to ask why she was sitting there or what she was trying to accomplish.

"You… are an ocean… of grey…"

Her voice was small, breaking, barely audible, but if she focused hard enough, she could almost hear it melting into another woman's – a deeper, more powerful voice that put her instantly at ease, just as it did all those many years ago.

(The Nohrian queen, with blue hair and golden eyes like her own, holding Fuyu's hand as she sang her lullaby. Instantly, Fuyu's worries and fears washed away. "You have more power than you know, little one," the woman said in between verses. "When all else is lost, this song will guide you home.")

"Join… me in… a song…"

Suddenly, there was a cry of pain from the other side of the door.

"F-Father?"

Her fear forgotten, Fuyu scrambled to her feet and threw the doors open. King Garon sat hunched over on his throne, forehead pressed to his hand as he groaned. His face looked even greyer than it had previously looked that evening, and he was breathing too heavily. "Father!" Fuyu cried as she rushed to his side. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"

"Ngh…"

She pried his hand away from his forehead as gently as she could. "Father!" She'd left her healing staff behind. If she could find any of her siblings, they'd be able to find a healer quickly enough, and then—

—and then Garon looked up at her, his dark eyes refusing to focus. "Who…?" he whispered.

Fuyu grasped his hand in both of hers, just as his queen had done for her before. "It's me," she said hurriedly. "Fuyu."

"Fu…yu…" he said slowly. Then, his head dipped down into his chest, and the smile he gave her was kinder and gentler than anything she'd ever seen from him. "That's right… you were… coming…"

His hand fell limp in hers, and Fuyu felt her stomach jump into her throat. "Father…?" Garon tilted sideways, and Fuyu had to throw her arm around his shoulders so that he wouldn't fall. He was heavy, and it was only a matter of time until her strength would fail and he'd topple off his throne, onto the ground. "Come, Father," she said quickly, hoping that she didn't sound nearly as panicked as she felt. Somehow, miraculously, he rose to his feet when she did, though he had to lean on her heavily for support. "We're going to see a healer, okay?"

"Mm…" he mumbled weakly in response.

"Quickly," she said. They made it as far as three steps would allow them before his knees buckled and he began sinking quickly to the floor, pulling Fuyu down with him. "Ah…" Maybe it would have been a better idea to bring a healer to him instead of the other way around – but at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to leave him alone. "Come on, Father," she said as she tried to bring him to his feet once more.

And then, his eyes focused. He looked down at the floor, back at his throne, and then directly at Fuyu. His eyes narrowed and his brow wrinkled, and before she could process what was happening, Fuyu was shoved away so forcefully that she fell backward. "Unhand me at once," her father practically snarled as he stood without her assistance.

Fuyu brought her hands to her chest and nervously clasped them together as he padded back to his throne, sitting down with so much grace and power that it was hard to believe that he'd been near collapse just moments ago. "I'm sorry…" she said quietly.

Garon grunted, leaning back. "Why are you here?"

"I… um…" Fuyu looked downward, and her face felt hot. "I'm here to apologize. F-For making you angry, I mean."

"Hm…" His brow furrowed, and Fuyu wanted to melt into the floor. "You disobeyed a direct order. Were you not my child, you would be dead."

 _But what you ordered was wrong_ , she so badly wanted to say.

" _Are you out of your mind?"_ Leo would have chastised her. _"Didn't anyone ever teach you the meaning of the word 'subtlety?'"_

" _Don't listen to him, Big Sister!_ " Elise would have said in retaliation. _"You were right. It was wrong to kill those people!"_

"I'm sorry…" was what Fuyu finally settled for.

"However." His voice was unexpectedly firm, and it was as if he was never ill to begin with. "However, you must make amends somehow."

"Of course! I-I'll do anything!"

The smile her father gave her made a shiver run down her spine.

* * *

In the end, more than Gunter and Jakob, her siblings were the ones to help Fuyu prepare for the trip. They gathered in the stables, shortly before she was to leave, but no one but Fuyu smiled at the occasion. "So this fortress…" Elise said, looking downward uneasily. "It's close to the border with Hoshido?"

"Yes!" Fuyu answered cheerfully. She pulled the black cloak Camilla had given her around her shoulders and fastened the button. If Iago had been telling the truth when he said that Hoshido's climate was generally colder at this time of year, then she'd surely need it. "Father just wants me to investigate it. See if it can still be used, take inventory of any supplies there… things like that."

Leo scoffed as he stuffed a few vulneraries into a satchel attached to the saddle of the horse Fuyu was to ride. "Don't tell me you're actually _excited_ about this."

Fuyu crossed her arms and frowned at him. "Why shouldn't I be? Father trusts me with this! He's not just letting me leave the Northern Fortess – he's trusting me to go all the way to the edge of Nohr's border!" She grinned as she bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet, a habit she'd picked up from Elise from one of her many visits. "We'd probably have to pass through a few villages to get there! Oh, and then, and then—"

Camilla chuckled. She made her way over to Fuyu and straightened the cloak, smoothing out the cloth over her shoulders. "I'm afraid it's not quite as glamorous as what you're imagining. The route you'll be taking is very straightforward, and there isn't much to see on the way."

Leo smirked. "You should be careful, though. That fortress you mentioned? I've heard some interesting things about it. They say it's guarded by a powerful spirit that feeds you the most wonderful food – steak, stew, pudding, cake, you name it! But if you don't finish what the spirit gives you, or if you're too picky like usual…" He chuckled darkly. "The spirit will eat _you_!"

"Wh-What?" Fuyu shrieked. "Camilla, what do I do? I can't eat nuts! What if the spirit feeds me something with nuts? A-And minced _anything_ makes me want to—"

"Oh, don't worry," Leo said dryly. "I'm sure the spirit will be _quite_ satisfied with its meal."

"No, no, no, I don't want to be eaten! Camilla, what if—"

Xander gently whacked Leo on the head with the healing staff he was carrying before fastening it to the side of the saddle, just next to the satchel. His forehead was smooth and wrinkle-free as a half-smile tugged the corners of his mouth upward. "That's quite enough out of you," he half-laughed.

Camilla didn't bother suppressing her own giggles. "Don't listen to him, Fuyu," she said. "I'm sure the fortress will be abandoned, just like Father said." Fuyu stuck her tongue out at Leo for good measure. Elise mimicked her and stuck her tongue out at him as well, and he simply rolled his eyes at them both. "However… something about this doesn't sit well with me. It's not like Father to be so accommodating."

"Right," Xander said solemnly, nodding. "Not to mention, you won't be going alone."

"I already know Gunter and Jakob are accompanying me," Fuyu said. "But don't worry! I can protect myself even without them!"

Xander chuckled. "I don't doubt that. But it's not just them."

Camilla's smile vanished. Not many had seen her truly angry, but for her good mood to change so quickly was a sign of danger, an automatic order to flee on sight – or at least, that was what Elise had told Fuyu, probably while exaggerating a bit. Nevertheless, Camilla's current expression – devoid of her usual smile, forehead creased almost to the point of Xander's, lips pursed disapprovingly – sent a shiver down Fuyu's spine. "So Father means to send someone else to accompany her?"

Xander sighed. "He doesn't just _mean_ to."

As if on cue, the door to the stables swung open, revealing a broad-shouldered man with a shaved head and a sinister smirk. "Little princess," he said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

Instinctively, Fuyu wrapped her arms around herself and slid behind Leo as quickly and subtly as she could. "Only Xander is allowed to call me that…" she said quietly, ineffectually.

"He's _ordering_ it," Xander finished belatedly.

King Garon strode into the room with powerful steps, though his face was quite a bit greyer than it had been the previous night. "This is Hans," he introduced. "He will accompany you on your journey and ensure that no harm befalls you."

Behind Garon was Gunter, standing still in the doorway with a neutral expression. Xander raised his head slightly, and Gunter nodded in his direction.

"Oh, Fuyu," Camilla gushed as she dramatically wrapped her arms around Fuyu's neck and brought her forehead down to the top of her younger sister's head. "I'm going to miss you _so_ much, darling! Promise me you'll come home safe!"

Garon beckoned Hans over to him with a wave of his hand and began muttering instructions to him. Xander made his way over to Gunter with even, measured strides, and then began speaking quietly to him. Gunter nodded every so often, not uttering a word.

"Listen closely, little sister," Camilla whispered in Fuyu's ear, still embracing her tightly. On the outside, it probably looked like she was whispering words of luck to her. "That man Father is sending to accompany you… he's no good. He's a murderer and a scoundrel, and Xander even arrested him some years ago. He's a formidable soldier, no doubt, but whether he's been fully rehabilitated as Father believes… it's hard to say."

"But why would Father…?" Fuyu whispered.

"But don't worry," Camilla continued, giving her a gentle squeeze for comfort. "If all else fails, Gunter and Jakob will be with you, and I have no doubts that they are loyal."

Fuyu swallowed. "Neither do I."

"She'll be fine, Camilla!" Elise said cheerfully.

"Honestly," Leo said with a small laugh. "You worry entirely too much."

Camilla pouted exaggeratedly and straightened up, slowly untangling herself from Fuyu. "Well _someone_ has to. It's a dangerous world out there, and my darling little sister is going to—"

"I'll be okay," Fuyu said with a bit of forced cheer. "Jakob and Guntre are going to be with me, anyway."

Camilla gave her a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "That's right," she said.

"Rest assured, milady," Gunter said as he strode into the stable, Xander at his heels, "no harm will come to Lady Fuyu as long as I live."

Jakob, a little ways behind Xander, nodded. "And I as well."

"Well, it seems we have nothing to worry about," Leo said, and there was an edge to his voice that suggested the opposite. "It seems that our sister is in _very_ capable hands."

* * *

It took them three days and two nights to reach the border between Nohr and Hoshido. It was raining by the time they arrived, with thunder booming and lightning flashing in the sky. "Lady Fuyu," Gunter said as he drew his horse to a stop. "Welcome to the Bottomless Canyon."

It was so dark that it was difficult to see, but the occasional flashes of lightning illuminated the jagged edges of the cliff they stood on, and just how deep the canyon was. She'd seen it on maps numerous time – it was a natural divide, after all, and it provided a convenient border between the two kingdoms that couldn't be crossed easily – but seeing it in person was another matter entirely. Maybe it would have been different if they'd arrived during the daytime, if there'd been some more lighting than the ominous lightning strikes.

Hans chuckled as he halted a few paces behind her, and Fuyu jumped in surprise. "They say that those that fall in never find their way back to the surface," he said with a sinister grin.

Jakob didn't stop until he was positioned directly between Fuyu and Hans. "Well, of course," he quipped. "As if anyone could hope to survive falling from such a length…"

"Mm…" But even with the knowledge of the danger that the Bottomless Canyon posed, Fuyu somehow didn't feel afraid. Without thinking, she dismounted her horse and made her way slowly to the edge of the bridge, peering downward. She couldn't see anything down there, but if she closed her eyes, she could almost feel like she was underwater, almost hear the Nohrian queen singing her lullaby…

"Lady Fuyu!"

Gunter's voice snapped her back to the present, and she jumped back with a small gasp. "S-Sorry!"

Gunter sighed and shut his eyes. "I don't like this place," he said solemnly. "It's as if mortals were never meant to pass through here. Normally, we'd go around, but…"

"Hold!"

There was a flash of lightning, and then suddenly she could see dozens of soldiers, all clad in garb she'd never seen before.

"Hoshidans," Gunter spat. "So this place wasn't nearly as abandoned as we thought."

"Nohrian soldiers," shouted one over the rain and howling wind. "Turn back at once. Crossing that bridge is a violation of our border treaty."

"Ah…" Fuyu said. "I'm so sorry! We'll turn back at once."

"Turn back?" Hans said suddenly. "Surely you must be joking, milady."

Fuyu closed her eyes and took a deep breath. If she was going be someone strong enough to win Garon's approval, then she needed to be able to stand up to people who were supposed to be under her control. "Not at all," she said, thankful when her voice came out firm. "We'll go back and report this to Father."

"I see…" Hans said, his grin widening. Without warning, he dismounted his horse with his axe drawn and rushed forward and through the Hoshidan soldier in his path. "Looks like we should report _this_ to him as well!"

"Hans!" Fuyu shouted, but her voice was drowned out by a crash of thunder. "I-I'm sorry! That wasn't what I—please forgive—"

"Enough!" shouted another Hoshidan soldier nearby. "You'll pay for this!"

The soldier charged forward, and Hans cut him down as easily as he did the first. "Die, scumbags!"

"Hans, stand down!" Fuyu shrieked, but once again, her voice was drowned out by thunder. "We weren't sent here to fight!"

"What are you talking about, princess?" Hans asked. "I'm making sure no harm comes to you – just as I was ordered!"

"It seems we no longer have any choice in the matter," Gunter muttered. "To the fort!"

Jakob ran to Fuyu's horse and pulled the sheathed Ganglari from the saddle. "Lady Fuyu!" he called as he tossed the blade over to her.

Fuyu caught it just as a Hoshidan soldier charged toward her, and she managed to unsheathe it in time to block his attack. With a shriek, she staggered backward, dropping the scabbard and gripping her sword tightly with shaking hands.

But she couldn't bring herself to cut through the Hoshidan soldiers like Hans and even Gunter were doing – instead, she remained back, just holding her sword out in front of her and dodging accordingly, unable to do anything but watch as the less lucky Hoshidans impaled themselves on Ganglari. Jakob lingered behind her, throwing knives at those who wished to take advantage of her moments of distraction. But to fight like this wasn't…

"Gunter!" Fuyu shouted. The knight flicked the corpse of a Hoshidan soldier off his lance before reacting. "That's enough! We're retreating!" It was easier to act, if she didn't think – easier to be as strong as Father required, even if her goals didn't align perfectly with his. "Hans, you too!" Her bodyguard clicked his tongue and swung his axe once more for good measure, slicing through another Hoshidan. "Jakob—"

"Yes, milady," he said before she could finish, bowing.

She didn't bother looking back as she ran. Surely the Hoshidans would be on her trail, but if she remembered correctly, then they'd violate the border treaty as well if they crossed the bridge. They just had to get away – get away from the bridge, away from the Bottomless Canyon, away from Hoshido. Then they would be—

She stopped in the middle of the bridge. Gunter and Hans were in front of her but there was no one behind her. "Where's Jakob…?" she said faintly. It was too dark to see past the bridge, so there was no way to tell how close he was. Maybe a Hoshidan soldier had gotten to him – maybe he was trapped in battle, and she'd run like a _coward_ —

"I'm sure he's on his way, milady," Gunter said surprisingly calmly. "Breathe."

But there was no time to worry about him. Ahead, Hans skidded to a halt and turned suddenly, a frown creasing his forehead despite the grin that still tugged at his mouth. "It seems that I underestimated you, little princess," he said. "You're softer than they give you credit for."

Fuyu gripped Ganglari tightly, as if it was a lifeline. "We weren't sent here to fight, so it was wrong to provoke the Hoshidans like that! It's very simple!"

"Oh?" Hans retorted. He twirled his axe in one hand, and when he gripped it once more, he did so more tightly. "Even if they'd done something like _this_?"

He swung his axe forward suddenly, too quickly for Fuyu to catch what he was doing. She shrieked as she squeezed her eyes shut, bringing Ganglari in front of her instinctively – but there was the sound of metal clashing against metal, and when she opened her eyes, Gunter was in front of her, atop his horse with his spear drawn and held defensively in front of him. Fuyu's and Hans' horses gave a panicked cry and dashed off the bridge in the direction from where they came, too quickly for anyone to stop them. "What is the meaning of this?" Gunter shouted.

"Quiet, old man," Hans spat at him. "The princess needs to learn that not everything can be solved with pretty words."

Hans swung his axe again, and Gunter blocked it just as easily as he did the first time. "Your orders were to protect her from harm," he said firmly, " _not_ to teach her philosophy!"

Hans smirked, and not for the first time since leaving the capital with him, she wanted to run away. "You're mistaken, old man," he said. He swung his axe once more, but at Gunter's horse and not through them both to Fuyu. The horse cried out in pain and stumbled to the ground, and Hans took advantage of Gunter's instability to swing his axe at him as well. With a pained grunt, Gunter fell over the side of the bridge, straight into the Bottomless Canyon.

"Gunter!" Fuyu shouted. "Gunter!" She ran to the side of the bridge, sinking to her knees and dropping her hands to the splintered wood beneath her. Her caretaker didn't respond when she called out to him – he was always supposed to respond. "N-No…"

"How annoying," Hans grumbled. "Now, where were we?"

Waves of red bled through Fuyu's vision. There was a roaring in her head that had nothing to do with the howling wind and the torrential downpour around her. She stared down at her hands, and her fingers blurred into something she no longer recognized.

"Now, little princess, shall we—"

"Give him back…"

Hans stepped toward her, holding his axe over his shoulder. "Hm?"

"Give him back!" The voice that came from her was not her own – it was more like her own layered over something darker and more sinister, gravely where hers was typically smoother. The roaring in her head grew louder, and her vision stayed red. She thrust one arm at Hans – the hand not holding Ganglari – and extended farther than, she knew logically, her arm conceivably could. But it didn't look much like her arm anymore – it was grey, twisted and warped into something that looked more like a drill, and it moved with nothing but the suddenly all-consuming desire to make Hans _pay_ for what he did to Gunter.

Her arm connected, and Hans' axe flew out of his hand, over the edge of the bridge. He staggered backward, falling and scooting back farther as she thrust her arm forward again. "Wh-What are you…?" She pulled her arm back for another attack, but with a panicked yelp, Hans scrambled to his feet and ran.

In the span of a few breaths, the red faded from her vision, and the roaring in her head flickered into nonexistence. Suddenly, it was so much more difficult to stay standing, and Fuyu collapsed to her knees. She still clung to Ganglari, but with when she looked down at her other hand, it looked no different than it had when she first left the capital.

All of a sudden, it became so much more difficult to keep her eyes open. She fell forward, her arms no longer strong enough to bear her weight, but she didn't fall all the way – instead, something soft blocked her descent. "Are you all right?" cried a familiar voice. But she couldn't answer – all she could do was close her eyes and pray that whoever had come to her wasn't going to hurt her.

Xander would have scolded her, if he could see her now.

Fuyu woke painfully slowly an indefinite period of time later, the bitingly cold air making her shiver under the scratchy blanket covering her. Her body felt stiff and sore, and she noted without opening her eyes that what she was currently lying on was too hard and lumpy to be her bed in the Northern Fortress. There was someone watching her – not Gunter, Jakob, Flora, Felicia, or any of her siblings – and Fuyu hurriedly pulled herself upright. Pain shot up her left arm, and she winced.

"Easy," a familiar voice said – a man. Someone's arm made its way around her shoulders and helped her lie back down, so gently that she was almost sure that whoever it was meant her no harm. "You're still injured."

"Injured…?" Her voice came out as a low croak, and her throat felt dry. Slowly, she raised her left arm above her head and saw bandages wrapped around it. When had she sustained that injury?

The specifics could wait – the reality of the situation sank in at once, and it became painfully clear that she had no idea where she was or whose company she was in. She sat up once more and flung her right arm to the side, clenching her fist and expecting Ganglari to magically be there. But it wasn't – and nor was Gunter or Jakob or even Hans.

"Is she up yet?" asked another familiar voice, not quite as close as the man's, but not too far away – a woman.

"Yes," answered the person closer to her, "but she seems to be a bit disoriented."

"We need to leave as soon as she's fit for travel."

"Of course."

Suddenly, it clicked in Fuyu's head where she'd heard those voices before. She looked up and saw a green-haired man at her side, and a pale-haired woman at the door. "It's you two…" she whispered.

The smile Kaze gave her was a familiar one. "Yes, that's right," he said gently.

"We need to leave," Rinkah said stiffly. "The capital is only an hour or so away."

"The capital…?" Fuyu echoed. "W-Wait! You can't—I thought—you were supposed to get away! Why did you—"

Rinkah smirked. "Not Nohr's capital."

Not Nohr's capital. That meant… Fuyu's head hurt just thinking about it.

"All will be made clear soon," Kaze promised, and his smile was startlingly effective in putting her at ease.

* * *

There were never any pictures of Hoshido in the books Fuyu had read, but more than enough words. The word almost all of them used to describe the kingdom was "bright," and seeing the way the sun shone in the cloudless sky, so different from the occasional patches of light in Nohr, she could know say that every word was true.

But the sun was too bright – or maybe it was just that Fuyu wasn't used to it. It hurt her eyes, so she had to partially cover them with one hand. There was a long flight of stairs leading up to the entrance of Castle Shirasagi – she didn't want to think about how badly Xander would scold her for not only for letting Hans have his way, failing to save Gunter, and leaving Jakob behind, but also for getting captured and taken to the enemy's capital.

 _Oh, this is about what happened at that fort, isn't it? Maybe if I just explain to them that Hans was… No, but then I'd have to explain why I brought him in the first place! Oh, this is—_

"Too slow," Rinkah said.

Fuyu stopped at the next step, coming to the sickening realization that Rinkah was almost an entire flight ahead of her. She wasn't used to walking this much, she tried to rationalize – she could only climb up and down the stairs at the Northern Fortress so many times, after all.

"Have you considered that maybe you're moving too _fast_?" Kaze retorted. He was only a few steps ahead of her, though Fuyu was sure he could move faster. Why he'd elected to slow down to her pace was beyond her – he wasn't Gunter, Jakob, Flora, or Felicia. Rinkah turned away and grunted, the tassels of her headdress whipping about her. "We're almost there, Lady Fuyu," Kaze said. "Just a little further."

There it was again – _Lady_ Fuyu. Hoshidans were said to have little to no respect for Nohrian nobility, and yet there was nothing malicious or derogatory in the way he said her name. Maybe Kaze was just different – nothing like the monsters who'd tried to kidnap her before. "If even Hoshidan soldiers are capable of such kindness, then there might be some hope after all…"

Kaze turned to regard her. "Did you say something?"

Fuyu clamped her mouth shut, and she felt heat rise to her face. "N-Nothing…"

It took a long time, but they eventually made it to a bright room with a golden throne. A man in red robes – similar to what the other Hoshidans she'd passed by on her way here, but they seemed to be made of a finer material – stood before the thrones with his arms crossed. His head was bent low and his eyes were closed in something akin to serenity, but his dark hair stuck out behind him in multiple directions. Rinkah wrapped her hand tightly around Fuyu's arm to hold her in place, while Kaze stepped forward and knelt before him. "Welcome back, Kaze," said the man. "Good work."

"Thank you, milord," Kaze replied.

 _Milord…?_ That meant—that meant that he was of some sort of nobility. Since he was in the castle, by the throne, that likely meant…

Fuyu bowed and squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm so sorry!" she cried. "I was… m-my bodyguard, he…" But the words died in her throat. She thought of Gunter, falling into the Bottomless Canyon, and of Jakob, perhaps lying dead on that battlefield after she'd just _left_ him—

And then, something warm washed over her mind – something soothing and gentle that made it so much easier to collect her thoughts and take the edge off of her fear. When she looked up, the man wasn't even looking at her – he was looking behind her, at a woman dressed in white and blue. Her hair was as dark as Fuyu's, and though her eyes were darker, they were the same shape.

" _Impossibly beautiful, with a seeming kind demeanor that puts you so at ease that you won't even want to fight back when she fires an arrow into your chest,"_ Xander had told her once. _"That is Hoshido's queen, Mikoto."_

"I cannot believe it…" Mikoto said, her voice as warm and soothing as whatever healing magic had put Fuyu at ease. She covered her mouth with both hands.

"Are you…?" Fuyu said slowly.

"Oh, Fuyu…" she said quietly. "You've come back… You've come back!"

Fuyu tensed as the woman suddenly rushed toward her and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for a blow though it seemed to contradict her words. Instead, Mikoto trapped her in an embrace not unlike one of Camilla's, and Fuyu found herself frozen on the spot, unable to move. Mikoto shook with sobs as she pulled Fuyu closer, and for reasons she couldn't identify, Fuyu didn't want to pull away.

"Ryoma?" said a woman's voice from further away – a voice that sounded both familiar and unfamiliar.

"You called us so suddenly…" said a quieter voice – this one was completely unfamiliar. "I-Is everything all right?"

"M-Mother?" yelped a man's voice. "What's wrong? What happened? Why are you—"

Mikoto pulled away from Fuyu suddenly, wiping her eyes with one hand while the other grasped Fuyu's shoulder. "M-My apologies," she said with a small sniffle. "You must be terribly confused."

At the doors to the throne room were two women – one with short red hair and one with shoulder-length hair of a lighter shade, both clad in white – and a man with a long, light brown ponytail, clad in blue. The man stepped forward with his arms crossed, frowning in something akin to concern. "Mother, what happened?" he asked. "Who is she?"

"Takumi…" Mikoto said slowly. "Hinoka… Sakura… This is… This is…"

The man with the dark hair – Ryoma, Fuyu presumed – smiled. "Our sister has finally returned," he said.

Takumi recoiled. "Sister? Wait, so this is…?"

The woman with the short red hair stepped forward slowly, moving past Takumi and stopping in front of Fuyu. "Fuyu…?"

Fuyu stepped back, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Yes…?"

The woman looked to Ryoma, and then to Mikoto. "This… isn't a trick?"

Mikoto smiled and shook her head. "No, Hinoka."

The woman Hinoka stepped toward Fuyu once more, and Fuyu unconsciously took a step back. "Fuyu…" And then, Fuyu was quickly trapped in another embrace – stiffer than one of Camilla's, more awkward, but still warm and genuine. "Finally… after all these years…"

"B-Big Sister?" said the shorter girl, Sakura. "Is that… really you?"

"Hmph," Takumi said, frowning contemptuously. "Of course she's not. She's probably a Nohrian spy, sent here to—"

"Takumi," Ryoma said in a low, warning voice. It was the same tone that Xander would use on Leo, whenever his usual teasing crossed a line.

"N-No, he's right," Fuyu said, pulling away from Hinoka, hopefully in a way that didn't denote disrespect. "There must be some mistake here. I'm a princess of Nohr! I can't be—"

Hinoka glared suddenly, though it was obvious that her anger wasn't directed at her. "So they brainwashed you, then!"

Fuyu shook her head. "No, nobody brainwashed me! I'm not…" She looked at Hinoka in front of her, then to Sakura behind Hinoka, who stood with her hands clasped nervously in front of her. Then her gaze shifted to Takumi, who refused to meet her gaze.

Ryoma's expression was sympathetic as he moved closer to her. "You were kidnapped by Nohrian forces when you were a small child," he explained. "For ten years, you've been…"

He reached his arm out toward her, probably to touch her shoulder, and Fuyu flinched away with a small, slightly shrill gasp. She couldn't help but feel guilty when his eyes narrowed in what she was sure was disappointment. "I'm sorry…"

"Oh, my dear child," Mikoto said, closing her eyes. "There's nothing to apologize for. You must be dreadfully confused about all of this. Please, take as long as you need to process this."

"B-But I—" Fuyu started feebly.

"Kaze?" Mikoto cut her off. "Will you please show her to the lake in the third garden?"

The green-haired ninja nodded. "Of course, milady." He was kind enough to always remain one step ahead of her, even though Fuyu took care to move faster than she did before. It must have looked so obvious that she was in a rush to leave, to put as much distance between herself and the Hoshidan royal family as she possibly could. And after the queen had been so kind too…

She was a princess of Nohr, born to one of King Garon's mistresses. It was the most obvious conclusion, and yet…

… and yet no one had ever told her that; it was just _assumed_. The servants at the Northern Fortress would whisper about the horrors of the Nohrian royal court whenever they thought she wasn't listening, and Camilla would always avoid the issue when it came up in conversation so smoothly and seamlessly that Fuyu could never be sure of it occurring unless she looked back on the conversation in hindsight. Not to mention, even at the best of times, Fuyu didn't look very much like her siblings – her hair was dark while theirs was pale, stubbornly straight and thin where theirs was thicker and wavier. Her eyes were smaller and narrower, pale gold to their darker browns and purples, and she was shorter in stature.

But Fuyu was a Nohrian princess, and Hoshidans had attempted to kidnap her years ago. After failing with her, they set their sights on another princess that no one was allowed to talk about.

 _What if this is a kidnapping? What if they finally succeeded?_

She didn't realize Kaze had stopped until he suddenly gripped her shoulders to stop her from running into him. "I-I'm sorry," she said automatically, staring intently at her feet.

"Are you all right?" Kaze asked instead of acknowledging her apology.

Kaze wasn't Jakob, she had to remind herself. Though he was around the same age and just as kind, he wasn't Jakob. Jakob was still at the Bottomless Canyon, probably dead, and Gunter was at the _bottom_ of that canyon if it even _had_ a bottom despite its name—

"I'm sorry," Kaze said, his hands leaving her shoulders and slowly dropping to his sides. "I should have told you the truth before bringing you here."

"H-Huh?" Fuyu snapped her head upward. "N-No, it's not your fault! I'm the one who…" She sighed. "All I know is that Hoshidans tried to kidnap me as a child. And then when they failed with me, they succeeded with another princess."

Kaze frowned. "Who told you that?"

"My father," Fuyu answered.

"You mean King Garon."

"He's the only father I know." He winced, and Fuyu felt a small pang of guilt. "I'm sorry…"

To her surprise, Kaze shook his head and smiled gently. "No, there's no need to apologize." He led her through another set of large doors, leading outside into something that was still too bright, with too many colors that Fuyu couldn't recognize. There was a lake behind some bushes, its surface clear and still. "This is where I leave you," Kaze said gently. "I hope you do come to some peace with this situation soon."

Fuyu nodded slowly and wrapped her arms around herself. "I will. Thank you, Kaze."

Kaze bowed his head. "Much obliged." He was gone within the blink of an eye, and suddenly, a weight was lifted from Fuyu's chest.

She sank into the soft grass, bringing her knees up to her chest. It didn't matter if this was a kidnapping, or if every word the Hoshidan royal family had said was true. No forces were ever sent to retrieve the Nohrian princess kidnapped in Fuyu's stead, which likely meant that no one would come for her. The mere thought of it made her eyes sting with tears, and she wanted to see her siblings now more than ever."

 _"You are the ocean's grey waves…"_

Fuyu looked up and came to the sickening realization that she wasn't alone, even though Kaze had already left. Gunter would have scolded her for dropping her guard so easily in enemy territory. Leo would have made a snide comment that she'd be dead by now if this were a real battle.

There was a woman there, impossibly beautiful with hair as blue as the lake she waded into. She sang Fuyu's lullaby in a light, airy voice. Water swirled about the woman as she continued to sing, and she waded further and further in it until Fuyu could no longer tell where the water ended and the woman began.

Something that looked like magic began to swirl about her. Soon, the woman had waded so deeply into the lake that all Fuyu could see was the top of her head. She'd read about stories like this in books before – tragic maidens singing to themselves impossibly beautiful in death after having drowned themselves.

"No!" The scream tore itself out of Fuyu's throat and, without thinking, she sprang to her feet and dove into the lake. She moved surprisingly easily through the water – probably evidence that she'd done this before in some lifetime she couldn't remember – and swam as quickly as she could to the woman who might as well have been drowning.

She managed to grab a handful of the woman's hair before everything around her faded. Then, they were moving so quickly that everything twisted and turned around her into an indistinguishable blur of colors and distorted shapes. She was dumped unceremoniously back on solid ground a few seconds later and was instantly dizzy, dropping to her knees and using her free hand to brace herself against the ground. She released her vice-like grip on the woman's hair and let her throbbing head fall into it, praying that she wouldn't vomit.

"You… Why are you here?"

Fuyu had to wait for a few agonizingly slow moments for her head to stop spinning. She opened her eyes slowly, blinking a few times so that her vision would clear faster. The woman that stood before her wasn't quite frowning, but she had her arms crossed over her chest defensively.

"I-I'm sorry…" Fuyu mumbled, her voice little more than a whisper.

The woman's golden eyes narrowed. "Why did you follow me?" she asked more firmly.

"I didn't… I wasn't…" But Fuyu's thoughts were racing too quickly for her to keep up with them, and the words died in her throat before they could form. She looked up at the sky – if she could even call a vast expanse of whites with a few patches of cloudy blue a sky – and at the stone ruins that seemed to float around them. _Where are we?_ she wanted to ask. "I'm sorry," she said instead.

The woman sighed and then harshly grabbed Fuyu's wrist. Her fingers were thin, bony, and it hurt the way they pressed into Fuyu's skin. "You must never speak of this place to anyone," she said. "Understood?" Fuyu nodded, not trusting herself to speak. "We're going back."

The second time was easier than the first, but only slightly. Fuyu still collapsed to her knees once they were back on the lake's edge, but the nausea and dizziness were quicker to disappear. She opened her eyes once she was sure she wasn't going to be sick, but the woman who'd brought her back was nowhere to be seen.

Clearly, Fuyu had intruded on something private, something she was never supposed to seen. All of a sudden, she wanted to apologize again even though there was no longer anyone there to apologize to.


	3. Chapter 3

_Ugh, I had to cut this chapter short because it started getting too long. So… not much action. Just a_ lot _of exposition, introspection, and over-analysis. Enjoy?_

 ** _Edit:_** _I am a moron and accidentally left out an entire PAGE of this thing before posting it so... yayyy second postage? Oh my god I am SO sorry._

* * *

Fuyu didn't move from her spot by the lake for a long while. It wasn't that she was trying to avoid the people who claimed to be her family – thought it was nice not having anyone hovering over her shoulder, for once, - the lake's surface just looked so calm and peaceful that she couldn't bring herself to move. Not to mention, there was that place _under_ the lake's surface, the place the blue-haired woman warned her never to speak of—

"So this is where you were. You were gone for so long, we were getting worried."

Fuyu startled as she jerked her head upward. Mikoto knelt down next to her, sitting on her knees and smoothing out her white skirt. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"Y-Yes," Fuyu answered shakily. "I'm sorry."

Mikoto shook her head. "There's nothing to apologize for."

Fuyu winced as the blue-haired woman's expression from before suddenly returned to the forefront of her mind – shocked, and then guarded and defensive. "W-Well…"

Mikoto laid her hand on Fuyu's shoulder so gently that it put Fuyu quickly at ease. "Did something happen?"

Fuyu drew her knees to her chest and hugged them tightly. "I-I thought she was drowning. I didn't know she was… that there was—" She clamped her hand over her mouth before she could utter another word. That woman had been so insistent that she not say anything, and yet… "I'm sorry. I can't tell you."

Mikoto raised her eyebrows. "You can't?" she repeated. "Or is it that you won't?"

"Can't," Fuyu answered quickly and easily. It felt reassuring to admit it, even though the woman's secret, whatever it was, was as good as revealed. "I-I mean…"

"No, I understand," Mikoto said, sighing. "I see. So that's how it is. I'd hoped my sister would be the one to teach you all of this, but…"

"Your sister…?"

Mikoto's hand slid from Fuyu's shoulder, down her arm until it gripped her hand. "Fuyu," she said slowly, "would you like to go back?"

"Go back?" she echoed. "Where?"

Mikoto shook her head. "I can't say."

Fuyu looked down at Mikoto's hand over her own. It was a comforting presence, even though the woman next to her symbolized all that Fuyu had been taught to reject. Hoshido was the enemy, and yet there was something about its queen – some magic, perhaps, or maybe she was just that charismatic – that made the idea of fighting sound repulsive. If it were Xander, he'd be on his guard, not letting the enemy get so close to him. If it were Camilla, she'd be able to speak so sweetly, seemingly revealing everything there was to know about her yet actually revealing nothing at all. If it were Leo, he'd gather as much information as possible without seeming like he was searching for it in the first place. If it were Elise, she'd charm everyone around her to just let her leave without a fuss, though not before a glorious tea party.

But Fuyu wasn't like any of her siblings – she wasn't strong or smart or brave or charismatic, so she couldn't bring herself to push the Hoshidan queen away like her father would have expected her to do. Paradoxically, she didn't want Mikoto to leave. Paradoxically, she wanted to go back to that space under the lake, so far removed from Hoshido and Nohr and everything that was wrong with the world.

"Can't?" she said finally in a small voice. "Or won't?"

To her surprise, Mikoto chuckled. "Good," she said. "You understand." Slowly, she stood and pulled Fuyu to her feet. "It's easier to go if you sing," she said as she waded into the lake, lifting her skirt with her free hand. She pulled Fuyu into the lake with her, gripping her hand tightly. "I was never as good a singer as my sister, I'm afraid. That, and I can never seem to remember the words." They stopped walking when they were deep enough in the lake that Fuyu had to stand on her toes to keep her head above the water. Then, Mikoto closed her eyes and began to sing on " _ah_." Her voice was clear, weaving easily through the notes of Fuyu's lullaby, but nowhere near as rich and powerful as the Nohrian queen's.

Water began to swirl around them, glowing pale blue as it surrounded them. Fuyu closed her eyes, and then, in the span of one breath, they slipped under the surface. Maybe the only reason it was so much easier this time was that she was prepared for it – or maybe because this time it wasn't an accident. When she opened her eyes and found herself back in the same place the woman told her never to speak of, she didn't feel dizzy or sick. Instead, there was a sense of calmness – like she didn't belong anywhere but _here_.

"This is Valla," Mikoto explained. "This is… well, the only word I know to describe this place is _home_."

It looked nothing like the forests and oceans and rivers depicted in the books she'd read – places other people had seen and called "beautiful" in that aesthetically pleasing way that made you want to just stare for hours on end. But Valla was beautiful in a way Fuyu couldn't describe – in the peaceful serenity of the stone ruins and green foliage and patches of blue sky, despite the almost harsh silence of it all. The cool mist enveloping everything was blissfully soothing, and Fuyu felt oddly at peace despite being so far away from her siblings. "It's lovely," she said breathlessly.

Mikoto chuckled. "It certainly seems that way, doesn't it? Not too long ago, it was even lovelier – so full of life and laughter. So many colors, so many sounds… we truly cherished this place."

"'We?'" Fuyu echoed.

"Well, yes," Mikoto said with a wry smile. "You were born here, you know – but I brought you to Hoshido when you were an infant, so it's only natural that you don't remember." She looked upward, at a patch of blue sky that drifted between clouds of white mist. "Ideally, we should leave this place in the history books where it belongs and never return… but that's impossible. It's cruel." She squeezed Fuyu's hand, though whether it was for Fuyu's comfort or her own, Fuyu couldn't tell. "This place is cursed," Mikoto said, her voice shaking slightly, "and those with ties to it, even more so."

Fuyu squeezed her hand back. "What do you mean?"

"We can never speak of this place, for one. Not outside its confines – or we die instantly. But even that isn't enough – this place is designed to reject all outside the control of the one who cursed it to begin with." She closed her eyes, and a few tears slid down her cheeks. "No matter how badly we wish to return, no matter how many times we try to do so, we can never stay. This place is as inhospitable to us as dry land is to a fish." She gave Fuyu a small, broken smile. "You must have felt it – something inexplicably powerful that compels you to return here, even before you knew this place existed?"

Fuyu averted her eyes downward. What Mikoto was saying made sense, but not in a way Fuyu could put into words. She thought of moments spent lingering too long by bodies of water, of the Bottomless Canyon and how she so strangely wanted to see what was at the bottom despite Gunter's warnings.

"There's more to the story, of course," Mikoto continued, "but we've reached our limit for now. We need to go back to the surface, or we will not be able to leave at all. But first…" She drew away slowly, leaving Fuyu's hand feeling almost unbearably cold now that there was no longer anyone holding it. Mikoto made her way over to a cluster of shiny, pale blue rocks, and she crouched down and plucked one from the ground. She came back quickly, gripping Fuyu's hand and pulling her back to the surface as quickly and painlessly as she'd pulled her into Valla before.

When they returned to the surface, the lake was as quiet and placid as ever – even though night had fallen, the garden was still bright in a way that Nohr would never be. Outside the comforting mist of Valla, the reality of the situation struck Fuyu so quickly and suddenly that tears sprang into her eyes. She'd been too quick to trust the Hoshidan queen – Xander would have scolded her, Leo would have teased her, and Garon would have been so, unspeakably angry. She wanted to return to Xander, Camilla, Leo and Elise, not stay here with people she didn't even know who called themselves her _true_ family.

(Four others who called her _sister_ , and a woman who called her _daughter_ , so earnestly and so lovingly that she didn't want to believe it was all an elaborate ruse to take her as a hostage like the Hoshidans had always wanted.)

"Here," Mikoto said gently, pressing the rock she'd picked up earlier into Fuyu's hands. It felt smooth and surprisingly delicate – more like glass than stone. "If you have any doubts, this crystal will show you the truth."

The last image to flicker through Fuyu's mind before she closed her eyes was of Hinoka, tearfully hugging her – but the image that soon replaced it was hazy and shrouded in mist, just like Valla. She could make out two figures – a tall woman, holding something, and a short girl. The mist cleared slightly, revealing the woman as Mikoto, swaying lightly with a dark-haired child in her arms, and what Fuyu assumed was Hinoka, her hair longer and pulled into a braid.

 _Hinoka tugged on Mikoto's sleeve, lips curled into a pout. "I want to hold her."_

 _Mikoto chuckled. "What do you say, little one?" she asked the child in her arms. "Do you want to go to your big sister?" The child made a gurgling sort of noise, and Mikoto laughed again. She crouched down by Hinoka and extended her arms. The child reached out toward Hinoka, and the girl quickly wrapped her arms around it. "Careful," Mikoto said, propping up the child with one hand until Hinoka could properly adjust her grip._

 _"She's heavy!" Hinoka exclaimed, though she smiled when the child wrapped its arms around her neck._

 _"Well, of course," Mikoto replied. "She's not Sakura's age anymore."_

 _Suddenly, the door swung open, revealing a boy with wild, unruly dark hair pulled into a messy ponytail. "Mother!" he called breathlessly. "Come quickly! Takumi was playing in the kitchen, and he sliced his hand open with a—"_

 _"Oh dear," Mikoto sighed. "Hinoka, can you look after Fuyu for a few moments?"_

 _Hinoka nodded. "Yes, Mother."_

 _"Thank you." Mikoto stood and rushed to the door. "Quickly, Ryoma. Show me."_

And then, the crystal shattered. Fuyu gasped as she jumped back, dropping her hands to her sides as the shards fell to the ground. What she'd just seen was something that had happened in the past – she couldn't say how, but she was sure of it. There were no memories that returned with the image – nothing else of Ryoma, Hinoka, Takumi, Sakura, or even her mother. Her mind went utterly blank when she tried to recall even the smallest memory of Hoshido prior to her arrival just recently, and as far back as she pushed, all she could remember was lying feverish and deliriously ill in a bed in Nohr, with the Nohrian queen holding her hand and singing to her.

(" _You have more power than you know, little one. When all else is lost, this song will guide you home._ ")

It was unfair for a number of reasons, the most pressing one at the moment being Mikoto looking at her expectantly, as if she'd hoped that Fuyu would remember more. Fuyu took one deep, shuddering breath and wiped futilely at her conspicuously wet eyes. She wasn't supposed to lose her composure so easily, but such matters were always a losing battle. Garon would have surely scolded her, or at least ordered her to be silent.

But Mikoto wasn't Garon. "Oh, my dear child," she said as she wrapped her arms around Fuyu, more gently than she did when they'd first met earlier that day, and pulled her close. "I'm so sorry. Maybe that was too much of me to ask of you…"

Without thinking, Fuyu threw her arms around her, and she could do nothing but cry as she buried her face in her mother's clothes.

* * *

Fuyu woke slowly the next morning in a room that wasn't hers. She was allowed to take her time, since she was no longer in the Northern Fortress and there were no Flora and Felicia to force her awake with their freezing hands. There was no Gunter waiting by her beside, and there was no Jakob listing off the items on her agenda for the day.

Fuyu sighed as she clutched her bed sheets. The mattress was different from what she was used to – on the floor instead of propped up by a bed frame, with a thicker blanket. Her clothes, which she'd discarded the previous night in favor of robes similar to what Hinoka was wearing before, were now clean and sat folded neatly on a table nearby, next to another set of robes – white with a pale blue sash.

And then, she noticed a slip of paper, folded neatly with a pale blue ribbon tied around it, sitting between the two garments on the table. She picked it up gently, afraid to pull too hard on the ribbon lest she wrinkle the surprisingly delicate paper. Inside was several lines written in a pleasant, neat cursive. From how thick the ink appeared, it was clear that the writer had taken extra care to write as beautifully as possible.

 _"Lady Fuyu,"_ it read, and she had a sneaking suspicion that she knew who the sender was from that first line alone. _"I hope this day finds you in better spirits than the last. Once more, I would like to apologize for bringing you to this country so suddenly, without notifying you at all. To learn so suddenly that the circumstances of your birth differ so greatly from what you believed must have been a horrible shock, and it was a factor I did not consider until after the task was completed._

 _"That said, I hope you come to see Hoshido as the home it once was to you. If there is anything I can do to make the transition more comfortable for you, please let me know."_

Fuyu sighed happily and smiled at Kaze's name signed not quite as neatly at the bottom – maybe he was in a rush to finish. There was a bottle of ink and a brush, along with several sheets of paper conveniently sitting there on the table, and she set straight to work after changing into the robes set out for her. The words flowed easily, effortlessly – it was easy to talk to Kaze in the same way it was easy to talk to Flora, Felicia, and Jakob. She thanked him first – thanked him for being so kind and patient with her, despite how she was anything but the perfect guest. Thanked him for working so hard to bring her back home, even though it was still impossible to connect Hoshido with the concept of _home_ – that honor lay solely with the Northern Fortress, along with her siblings, her father, Gunter, Flora, Felicia, and Jakob. Though, she supposed, Mikoto was slowly worming her way there, and it was easier to think of Ryoma and especially Hinoka as something closer to what Xander and Camilla were.

She paused, and she had to readjust her grip on the brush so that ink wouldn't drip onto her letter. Hoshido was supposed to be the enemy, she reminded herself. They were supposed to be greedy and elitist, hoarding all the world's resources for themselves and affording only the most meager scraps to those who dared to ask for help. But it was impossible to reconcile that image with the people she'd met the previous day – the queen was nothing like the manipulative witch the complaints about her barrier around the kingdom made her out to be. The royal family was kind and welcoming, loving in the same way Xander, Camilla, Leo, and Elise were.

 _Why are we at war again?_

Suddenly, there was a knock at her door. Fuyu looked up, and nearly dropped the brush in surprise. Standing at the doorway was the woman with long blue hair and gold eyes like her own, one hand pressed to the wall so that she could lean slightly against it and a small, gentle smile tugging at her thin lips. She wore a robe much like the ones given to Fuyu – dark blue and indigo like Fuyu's dress.

"J-Just a moment!" Fuyu yelped as she hurriedly finished her last sentence – her normally neat cursive turned into a messy scrawl – and signed her name at the bottom.

"Please, take all the time you need," said the woman, wrapping her arms around her torso and pressing her back against the door frame. It was like she was an entirely different person – there was none of the defensiveness of the previous day, none of the shock and disapproval.

Fuyu set the brush back down in to the ink bottle and folded her letter down the center. It wasn't the cleanest fold – the corners didn't align properly – but she hoped that Kaze wouldn't mind her sloppiness. When she looked up again, for an instant, she could swear it was the Nohrian queen standing before her. It took a few blinks to reorient herself – the woman before her was not the Nohrian queen, though she looked very similar, which meant…

"Azura…?"

The woman raised her eyebrows. "Hm?"

Fuyu's throat went dry, and she swallowed in hopes that it would make it easier to talk. It didn't. "That's your name… isn't it?"

Azura smiled again, surprisingly gentle, and Fuyu mentally berated herself for not paying closer attention, for not discovering her identity sooner. "So Mikoto told you, then?"

Fuyu shook her head. There had been another princess of Nohr – someone taken when the Hoshidans had failed to kidnap Fuyu. This was common knowledge, and yet Xander and Camilla would dance around the issue, briefly alluding to a sister who was no longer there, and then quickly changing the subject before anyone else could catch onto the fact that something was amiss. She'd only heard this lost sister's name whispered among servants when they thought she wasn't listening, more frequent when she was younger until it seemed that no one could even remember now that there had been another princess.

Azura gently grabbed Fuyu's wrist and pulled her to her feet. Maybe it was because she noticed her distress, or maybe this had been her plan all along. "Perhaps some fresh air would make this conversation easier?" she said sweetly.

Fuyu nodded and swallowed again. It was hard to believe that this was the same woman who'd been so upset with her the previous day, and insanely, she didn't want to ever leave her side. Belatedly, at the door, she remembered the letter. "W-Wait! I have to…" She trailed off as she looked back at the table. The letter she had just written was gone.

Azura chuckled. "I think it's safe to say that whoever that letter was addressed to has received your message."

* * *

"Are they well?" Azura asked once they reached the same garden as before. It was uncomfortably hot in Hoshido, though the air was lighter, crisper – different from the perpetual mugginess of the Northern Fortress.

"Who?" Fuyu asked, frowning in confusion. Azura just shook her head, and suddenly the answer became clear. "Oh… They're… fine, I suppose. They're doing well enough."

Azura sank to the ground under the shade of the large tree. She patted the ground next to her, and Fuyu gingerly sat next to her. "Tell me about them."

Fuyu held her breath. Maybe it was treasonous to speak highly of the Nohrian royal family in Hoshido – but this was supposed to be her sister, in a sense, and she had a right to know. "Xander is well on his way to succeeding the throne," she said quietly. When she closed her eyes, she found herself back in the Northern Fortress, back at _home_ , and surrounded by her siblings. "He's so well respected in the army that even speaking with him is considered a huge honor. You wouldn't _believe_ how many people fear him, though… he told me just the other day that he was talking to one young cavalier who was so terrified that he couldn't stop shaking through the entire conversation!"

Azura laughed. "Somehow, I find that _very_ hard to believe."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Fuyu retorted, grinning. It was easier to talk now, though she couldn't say why. "He used to be so sweet and gentle… still is, actually! But bring the war or training into it, and it's like he's a completely different person." She frowned and gave a small, petulant pout. "He's entirely too enthusiastic about training. Did you know just the other day, he lied and said that Father was disappointed in my training so that he could push me in to working harder?"

Azura shook her head, clearly amused. "I did not."

"And Leo laughed about it!" She lowered her voice and squinted to properly imitate her younger brother. "'It's your own fault for being so gullible,' he said!"

"He's not wrong, you know."

"I know, but he doesn't have to be so _smug_ about it!" Fuyu huffed in annoyance. "You know, he's not cute at all! I remember, when we were little, he'd follow me wherever I went and beg me to read all the same storybooks he did, but now he assigns me _homework_! Makes me read some boring textbook on military strategy, and then gives me practice questions on the material…"

"And Camilla?" Azura prompted, grinning almost as widely as Fuyu.

"Better than Leo," Fuyu answered flatly. "She visits… oh, I'd say less often than Leo and Elise, but more than Xander." She giggled, suddenly recalling the previous visit – the one before all her siblings came to take her to Castle Krakenburg. "A few weeks ago, she brought me this _beautiful_ brooch some suitor had given her as a present. She said it was as lovely as he was ugly on the inside. Then she sat me and Elise down and told us that someday, men and women will come asking for our hand in marriage, expecting us to agree because of all the gifts and affection they shower upon us, except we're not obligated to accept." She laughed again. "She says Elise is in greater danger than I am because all Elise has to do is open her mouth for everyone to like her. Which is true! Except, apparently, Xander is the absolute _worst_ at this. Camilla always has to shoo away the people that come after his… something. Hand in marriage, yes, but something else too. No one will tell me what it is."

Azura laughed. "So it seems everyone's worries were unfounded, then," she said, "though it's hard to imagine how much Nohr has changed, for it to make you so happy."

And then, Fuyu suddenly remembered where she was – in Hoshido, speaking too freely and too highly of what its people considered the enemy. She clamped her mouth shut and felt heat rise to her cheeks, and she wrung her hands together nervously. "I'm sorry…"

Azura shook her head. "Don't be."

Fuyu chewed on her lower lip and, not for the first time, wanted to go back to her siblings. Even though Hoshido was brighter than Nohr, even though she was allowed outside for as long as she wanted and without a servant accompanying her, even though there was that kingdom at the bottom of the lake. "They miss you, you know," she said in a small voice. "They won't say it out loud, but they do."

Azura sighed, and then stood up. "Things were supposed to get better," she said as she stepped toward the lake. "My mother promised me that things would get better once you arrived. I'd have someone close to my age there, always at my side because no one would _dare_ to hurt the child of a foreign king, even with someone like me there with them." She shook her head. "But then the opposite happened. You came, and my mother refused to leave your side because you were so ill. And then, Xander and Camilla changed. They started paying attention to me, when they barely registered my existence before, and my mother did the same for them. And then my mother died…" She closed her eyes and gave a small, mirthless laugh. "And then I took your life here. I took your mother, I took your siblings, and for years when all they wanted was to see you again, I—"

Fuyu bolted to her feet and grabbed both of Azura's hands firmly. "That's not your fault!" she cried. "It's…" But then words failed her. How was she supposed to explain why no one had tried to bring her back from Nohr? How was she supposed to explain why no search parties for Azura had been sent to Hoshido?

"Even if they really have changed as much as you say, I have no intention of going back," Azura said, quickly drawing her hands away from Fuyu. "It's selfish of me, but, frankly, I would rather die than go back to that awful place. Not when there's no longer anything there for me."

Fuyu averted her eyes downward. It was common knowledge, how awful the Nohrian royal courts were, and it had to be a miracle that she'd managed to avoid the worst of it – or maybe the Nohrian queen was just that successful in protecting her from it.

(Briefly, Queen Arete's voice floated to the forefront of her mind, singing her lullaby. The lake gleamed in the sunlight, and it took more effort than necessary to fight off the urge to go back to the kingdom under its surface.)

"I…" Fuyu started. Her voice broke, and there was a pressure building in her sinuses that she knew could only spell disaster. "I can't even remember my own mother. Th-There was a crystal from—mph!"

Azura suddenly clamped a hand over Fuyu's mouth and frowned sternly at her. "Are you always so careless with words?"

"S-Sorry…" Fuyu mumbled, though it was muffled with Azura's hand over her mouth. Somehow, when the princess removed her hand, some of the tension from before was gone. "So… there was this crystal that showed me… something from my past? My mother was there, and so were Hinoka and Ryoma, but…" Fuyu sighed. "I don't _remember_. It was like… like I was reading a scene from book. I felt _something_ from it, and I suppose that's proof enough that it was real, but…" She dug her nails into the palms of her hands. "I remember _your_ mother better!"

And that was the crux of the matter – when she thought of "Mother," the first image that came to her mind was Arete. Now, she knew to push that image aside in favor of Mikoto – it was no coincidence that they looked so similar, and children were supposed to look like their parents – but Arete was still there, staying by her side when she was ill and singing to her in a memory that refused to fade, no matter what the Hoshidan queen said otherwise.

"So you feel guilty for taking away my mother? It's only fair because I took away yours!"

Everything blurred before her in a watery haze, and Fuyu buried her face in her hands. It was shameful to lose her composure like this in enemy territory. Leo wouldn't tease her for this – he'd be shouting at her along with Xander.

But then Azura wrapped her arms around Fuyu and pressed her forehead against hers. "If one thing is for certain," she said gently, "it's that both Hoshido _and_ Nohr need to reevaluate how they treat their political hostages.

Fuyu couldn't help but laugh at that, but it was a watery, broken sound when it was mixed with tears. "Agreed."


	4. Chapter 4

She'd never seen so many people gathered in one place before. So many colors, so many sounds, all under a blue, cloudless sky – under crisp, clean air – with the same cherry blossoms falling gently to the ground. "Um…" Azura mumbled next to her. Her wrist stiffened slightly in Fuyu's grasp, and Fuyu jerked her hand away hurriedly. She didn't realize just how tightly she was holding it until Azura rubbed her wrist with a slight wince. "It takes some getting used to," she said with a gentle smile, "but I'm sure you'll come to like it."

Fuyu nodded, keeping her mouth clamped shut. Then she closed her eyes, inhaling deeply and letting just the sounds and smells wash over her. It was nothing like how it was at the Northern Fortress, even with all her siblings there in addition to the servants – there was a certain _vibrancy_ here that she didn't think she could place anywhere in Nohr. One direction smelled of fried food and fish; another, perfumes.

She stumbled as she spun on the balls of her feet, and her eyes flew open as someone grabbed her elbow to steady her. "Be careful!" Hinoka said, laughing. Fuyu pulled away instinctively. Hinoka's grip was firm, though not at all stiff or awkward – and maybe this was how it always was with her.

She thought back to the crystal from Valla, the image of a younger Hinoka and Ryoma and Mikoto that still felt too external to herself.

Hinoka gave her hand a gentle squeeze and smiled. "Hey…" she said softly. "It's okay if you don't remember. Just try to enjoy this as much as you can, okay?"

Fuyu lifted her head, and she didn't have to crane her neck quite as much to look into Hinoka's eyes. "R-Really? You don't mind?"

"Of course not!" her sister replied as she began pulling her toward a food vendor at the side of the cobbled street. "You can't help it if you don't remember. Besides, it doesn't matter if you make new memories now, right?" She stopped in front of the stand and called out to the vendor. "Three sticks, please."

"Right away, milady," said the vendor, bowing his head. Within seconds he handed two sticks of what appeared to be three balls – one white, one pink, and one green – to Hinoka, and then one to Azura.

"This used to be your favorite," Hinoka explained as she handed Fuyu one of the sticks.

The stick felt unfamiliar in her hands, but she carefully nibbled on one of the balls anyway – and then devoured all three within a matter of seconds. "It's good!" She couldn't remember the taste, but it didn't feel new either – and that had to count for something. "Can I have another?"

Hinoka frowned suddenly. "No!"

Fuyu flinched and dropped her gaze to the ground. Hinoka wasn't Camilla, she reminded herself – no matter how easy it was to fall into a supposedly familiar rhythm with her. Once more, the reality of her situation hit her hard. _This isn't home_ , she reminded herself, then immediately backtracked – Mikoto and Hinoka, at the very least, wanted her to see this as home, even if she couldn't remember her life here before Nohr.

And then, there was another stick right before her nose. Hinoka smiled gently as she pried one of the balls off and slid it onto Azura's still full stick. "Just one, okay?" she said. "Eat too much, and you'll get a stomachache." Before waiting for Fuyu to respond, Hinoka slid the second ball onto Fuyu's stick. Unable to suppress a smile, Fuyu bowed her head as she nibbled on it.

They went to the blacksmith's next, and the weapons inside were in better condition than anything Fuyu had seen stored in the Northern Fortress. She'd read a book on the differences between Hoshidan and Nohrian weapons – swords and katana, lances and naginata, bows and yumi, staves and rods, tomes and scrolls. Each category was similar enough that, for example, any Nohrian swordsman could use a katana with minimal difficulty, even if the weapons themselves were inherently different.

Even though they were supposed to be meeting Ryoma, Fuyu found herself wandering away from Hinoka and Azura, straight towards the rods. She picked one up and weighed it in her hands – it was lighter than a staff, and maybe she'd have to use it differently, but she could still feel the same warm healing magic pulsing through it.

"Um…"

Fuyu startled, crying out in alarm. As always, she should have been paying more attention to her surroundings, because Sakura was at her side now when she most definitely wasn't just moments ago. "S-Sakura!" she yelped. "H-Hello!" She bowed for good measure – bowing was supposed to be a sign of respect in Hoshido, wasn't it?

Sakura's face turned very, very red. "I'm sorry!" Fuyu said automatically bowing once more.

"N-No!" Sakura stammered back. "Please don't apologize! I'm the one who should b-be…"

"N-No, really, I should be—"

They bowed at the same time, and their heads knocked into each other hard. Fuyu immediately recoiled in pain, rubbing the increasingly painful spot on her forehead where Sakura had hit her. "I'm so sorry! I was—"

"I-I should have been paying more attention!" Sakura cried, mirroring Fuyu as she rubbed her forehead as well. "I'm sorry!"

Fuyu's cheeks burned when she heard Hinoka chuckle. When she turned to look, she saw Azura delicately cover her mouth with one hand to suppress giggles of her own. "U-Um…" Fuyu said slowly, forcing herself to look away from Hinoka and Azura. Sakura didn't meet her gaze – she stared at the floor instead, hands clasped tightly in front of her. "D-Do you like healing staves too, Sakura?"

The girl who was supposed to be her younger sister – not Elise – looked up shyly. "A-Are you talking about healing rods?"

"Right!" Fuyu replied. "People use rods in Hoshido, not staves. Sorry, I forgot." She bounced the rod lightly in her hands. "I really like staves, but I've never used a rod before."

Sakura gave her a small, barely noticeable smile. "W-Would you like me to show you?" She pulled out a small pouch – red silk, decorated with tiny pink flower petals – and laid a handful of gold coins on the countertop next to them. "May I?" she asked as she took the rod from Fuyu. Then she spun around in a graceful circle, the tassel-like objects attached to the rod fluttering, and in an instant, the pain in Fuyu's forehead from hitting it against Sakura's was gone.

"Wow!" Fuyu gasped. "Can I try?" Sakura smiled and nodded, handing her the staff. Copying Sakura's movements was an intimidating prospect, so Fuyu twirled the rod like Jakob, Flora, and Felicia would. There was a familiar pulse of healing magic, and Sakura's hand drifted up to her forehead within seconds, hopefully indicating that Fuyu had been successful. "Did it work?"

Sakura nodded, her smile widening. "It did!"

Fuyu giggled. "Yay!" Both Hinoka and Azura were smiling when she turned to look.

"I-I'll teach you properly later," said Sakura. "It j-just takes a little practice!"

"Yes, that would be great!" Fuyu replied.

"I didn't know there were Nohrian healers," said a new voice. Takumi stood by them now, arms crossed over his chest and his expression deceptively blank – but there was an edge to his voice that made Fuyu's tension and anxiety return tenfold.

"B-Big brother!" Sakura gasped. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't notice you!"

Ryoma approached them as well, towering over Takumi as he laid a hand on his shoulder. "Of course there are Nohrian healers," he said. "An army will fall apart without those who can mend it and maintain it. Although, I do recall you carrying a sword when you arrived, Fuyu?"

"Y-Yes, that's right," Fuyu replied shakily. She couldn't meet Ryoma's gaze – not with Takumi there next to him, eyes narrowed in something too close to suspicion and scorn. "F-Father insisted that I learn to fight as well, s-so Xander taught me how to use a sword. I-I've never fought in any real battles, though…" No, that was wrong – too many names dropped, referring to King Garon and Prince Xander of Nohr overly casually in the presence of those who loathed their existence, and a lie. She clapped a hand over her mouth, and her face felt hot. "N-No, wait! That's not true! I _have_ fought in a real battle before! Back in—"

"Well, if it isn't Prince Ryoma!" said an old woman in robes that looked fancier than even what Hinoka, Sakura, Fuyu, and Azura were wearing.

"Oh, Lad _y_ Tsubasa!" Ryoma greeted her quickly, flashing a polite smile. "It's been so long since we last talked! How have you been?"

He left quickly enough, along with Sakura, and Fuyu heaved a sigh in relief. Though it wasn't the same as a staff, the rod was a comfortable weight in her hand, better than even the sword Garon had given to her as a gift. If only she'd exchanged her sword for one back at the Bottomless Canyon – if only she'd healed those that Hans had hurt, like she'd done with Kaze and Rinkah, instead of fighting back without a second thought—

"A real battle…" Takumi said slowly. "At the border." What was a stern frown before was now a harsh glare, filled with disdain. "Am I correct?"

Azura stepped between them and lightly touched Fuyu's arm. Hinoka was distracted by an array of expensive-looking naginata in the opposite corner of the shop, completely unaware. "Is something the matter?" Azura asked.

"Oh, of course not, as far as our _dear_ sister is concerned," Takumi sneered. "Just that, no more than two days ago, Nohrian forces were reported to have breached the border at the Bottomless Canyon, attacking our border guards unprovoked and leaving less than half of them alive." He tilted his head to the side, his eyes narrowing further. "Funny how that conveniently overlaps with her return."

Azura's eyes narrowed, and her grip on Fuyu's arm tightened. "Are you accusing Fuyu of instigating this attack?" she asked. "Takumi, that's absurd."

"Of course you'd defend her," he snapped. "Since when were Nohrian scum like you given permission to say my name? Don't be so arrogant, Azura."

"W-Wait!" Fuyu interjected. "That doesn't make any sense!" She chewed on her lower lip, and wondered why it was easier to defend someone else – someone she'd just met and who was just as much a stranger as everyone else in Hoshido who claimed to be her family – than it was to defend herself. "It's… true. That attack at the Bottomless Canyon was my fault. F-Father assigned me a bodyguard, a-and he immediately assaulted the first Hoshidan soldier he saw, a-and I failed to restrain him. I'm sorry." A simple apology wouldn't bring back those who lost their lives at the border, but it was all she had. She thought of Gunter, pushed to the bottom by that same bodyguard, and of Jakob, still lost somewhere if he was even still alive, and tried very hard not to cry.

By that point, Ryoma and Sakura had finished speaking to the woman who'd occupied their attention, and even Hinoka had meandered back to Azura. Ryoma crossed his arms over his chest, though he didn't frown or accuse Fuyu of betrayal like she expected him to. "Are you done, Takumi?" he asked calmly.

"Really—" Takumi spluttered, clenching his fists by his sides. "You're taking _her_ —"

"It _is_ worrying," Ryoma said firmly, "though considering the circumstances, perhaps it wouldn't be fair to judge her too harshly." That she had no memory of her _true_ family, he likely meant.

"Wait, no," said Fuyu, her voice coming out as little more than a whisper. "I… that really was my fault… a-and I should be…" She couldn't even finish the thought – the prospect of being executed or worse, sent back to Nohr with her failure laid bare before her already angry father, was too frightening to say any more.

Azura cleared her throat pointedly. "Well, there _is_ that council tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning, there was another letter sitting on her table, this time with a yellow ribbon tied around it. In an instant, all worries about the upcoming council were gone – Kaze's neat cursive and earnest words put her instantly at ease.

 _"I heard that you toured the marketplace yesterday,"_ he wrote. _"The city is always beautiful this time of year. There is a park close by, where many families go to view the cherry blossoms falling. I do not know if Nohr holds such customs, so this may sound odd, but it truly is a beautiful sight. Lady Sakura and Lady Mikoto always insist on going with the rest of the royal family, and many retainers and servants go with them. It's wonderful that you've returned at such a time, Lady Fuyu – let's all go together to see the flowers soon."_

Fuyu covered her face with one hand and smiled. "How am I even supposed to respond to that…?" she asked somewhat helplessly, but she didn't feel worried or anxious in the slightest. She'd have to say exactly what was on her mind, without filtering anything or second-guessing herself – and somehow, picturing Kaze on the other side, reading that letter perhaps with a gentle smile, never once questioning her or judging her for the years she spent in Nohr, made the words flow easily.

 _"One of my sisters in Nohr, Elise, loves flowers,"_ she wrote. _"Castle Krakenburg has a conservatory that's filled with as many kinds of flowers as you can imagine. I lived away from the castle, so I've never been to this place, but many times, when she visited me, Elise would bring me flowers. I don't think flowers grow very well in Nohr – not enough sunlight and too much humidity – but apparently, the conservatory was Queen Arete's favorite room in the castle, and she spent much of her time there tending to the flowers. It's because of her that they were able to thrive for so long, and Camilla and Elise haven't let her efforts go to waste. I wonder if she ever got to see Hoshido's flowers… I think she would have really loved them."_

Thinking about Arete suddenly made everything feel very heavy, and she had to stop there. Belatedly, she wondered if Kaze would be terribly upset when he learned that all she had to say was about Nohr and a place she still considered more of a home than Hoshido. Then, there was a knock at her door, and there was no longer any time to dwell on the matter.

Azura peered inside, hands tucked behind her back. "Are you ready?" Then she sighed, just as Fuyu folded her letter shut. "What's wrong?"

Fuyu pouted as she went to join her. "Your mother would have handled this a lot better than me."

"I don't think that's a fair comparison," Azura replied calmly. "The world would be a much more peaceful place if my mother had had her way."

They made their way down several hallways, each one of them open and bright, illuminated by unfiltered sunlight. Maybe, if Fuyu stayed for longer, then such sunlight would appear harsh in due time, without any clouds in the sky to subdue it. Maybe in summer, without spring's crisp, cool air to compensate for the sun's heat. She stared down at her bare feet – Gunter always made her cover her feet in Nohr, and Camilla made sure that she never ran out of shoes and boots to wear – and wondered if maybe, if things had turned out differently, Arete would have walked down these same halls with her feet bare, side by side with Mikoto. For all Fuyu knew, maybe they already had.

She and Azura stopped before a pair of large red doors – not the throne room, where Fuyu had first reunited with her mother and Ryoma, but a similarly large room not too far away. Fuyu had never seen a war room before, but Xander, Camilla, and Leo had talked enough about them that she knew what to expect – a large table with a variety of military officials, a few nobles, Garon, and Iago seated around it.

Hoshido's war room came close – there were several men and women she didn't recognize, who all looked up at her in alarm when she entered. There was Rinkah, seated next to a tall, broad-shouldered man with tanned skin and hair just as pale as hers. There was Ryoma, Hinoka, Takumi, and even Sakura – Elise never attended war meetings – sitting next to each other, with two chairs left open between Hinoka and Takumi. Standing behind Ryoma was a red-haired man wearing a mask and a scarf similar to Kaze's, but he was the only ninja she could see in the room. Next to Mikoto was a bespectacled man with blue-green hair and wrinkles collecting around his eyes, who stood up immediately and made his way over to Fuyu and Azura.

"Lady Fuyu!" the man said pleasantly, smiling. He took one of her hands in both of his. "It's so good to finally see you again!"

This had to be someone she knew before getting kidnapped, and yet, Fuyu couldn't think of a single thing to say in response. The man's voice was sickly sweet and almost forced – not nearly as bad as Iago's, but of a similar nature nonetheless. "Good day, Yukimura," Azura said politely.

"I've been so busy, I haven't had a chance to see you yet," the man continued as if Azura hadn't said a word. Fuyu bristled. "But my, look how you've grown! You've become just as beautiful as…" Just then, Mikoto cleared her throat, and the room went silent. "Well, I must be going," said Yukimura. "Good day, Lady Fuyu!"

Fuyu glared at him as he walked away. "I don't like him."

"Frankly, neither do I," Azura said bluntly, "though I'd appreciate it if you kept this quiet. People here don't like me very much to begin with, and I can't imagine they'd be happy if they heard me disrespecting the head tactician." She rested her hand against Fuyu's back and gently pushed her towards the rest of their siblings.

"But he disrespected you first!" Fuyu hissed.

"In more ways than one," Azura whispered back.

They slid into the empty seats between Hinoka and Takumi – Azura next to Hinoka, and Fuyu next to Takumi – as Mikoto rose to her feet. "Welcome," she said as warmly and kindly as ever. "Thank you for joining us today. First, I would like to make an announcement." She turned to smile at Fuyu, and then gestured toward her. "My second daughter, Fuyu, who has spent the last ten years as a hostage in Nohr, has finally returned!"

Whispers rippled through the war room. The word "Nohrian" came up almost every other word, and Fuyu could swear that she heard the word "scum" dropped a few times. Everyone's eyes were on her, and she wanted to melt into the floor. She'd never had to sit with so many strangers before – or maybe she had and she just couldn't remember. Takumi sitting next to her, his hands balled into fists in his lap under the table, put her even more on edge, even though he had yet to say anything. Azura squeezed Fuyu's hand gently under the table, though it did little good to calm her nerves.

Mikoto cleared her throat, and the room fell silent once more. "However," she continued, "as many of you are aware, there have been rumors lately of Nohrian invaders in the castle."

"They're right, of course," Fuyu heard and old woman next to Sakura whisper.

"I wish to assuage these rumors once and for all," said Mikoto. "Tomorrow, I will make an announcement in the town square."

"Are you sure that is wise, milady?" Yukimura asked, frowning. "To proclaim something so boldly in such an open space… forgive me for being frank, but it simply begs for trouble."

"Not to mention," said the tan-skinned, pale-haired man sitting next to Rinkah, "there was that attack at the border just a short while ago."

"I will not deny that the Nohrian forces have become more aggressive as of late—" Mikoto started.

"With all due respect, Lady Mikoto," said the man, "I came to the capital to support the Hoshidan army. My daughter," he gestured towards Rinkah, "has risked her life and will continue to do so to fight among its ranks, as you are well aware. With the threat of a full-blown Nohrian invasion upon us, now is _not_ the time to celebrate a family reunion." He nodded in Fuyu's direction, but his stern expression didn't change. "As joyous an occasion it is."

Mikoto nodded. "I understand, Lord Akito," she said. "However, think of how happy this would make the people! They would see this as a victory over Nohr – a sign that even despite the worst of circumstances, no matter what King Garon throws at us, we will survive and we will triumph." She clapped her hands together, positively beaming. "And on that note, I would like to take this moment to thank Lady Rinkah for successfully returning my daughter to her home."

Rinkah smirked proudly and nodded. "Much obliged. I can't take _all_ the credit, though."

"So you were there, then," said Yukimura. "The day our border was breached."

Rinkah's smirk faded, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes, though I did not know the Nohrians meant to attack us then."

"We didn't," Fuyu said quietly. The room fell silent once more, and in an instant, everyone's eyes bore into her. There were too many things wrong with what she'd just said – implied solidarity with Hoshido's enemy, what would probably be seen as a sign of betrayal and ungratefulness with Mikoto's kindness and hospitality, and too little said on too large a matter. Takumi's gaze, on her left, seemed to be the most pronounced of them all. "W-Well the fact is… I-I…"

"It's all right," Ryoma said gently, smiling. "Just say exactly what you told us yesterday. No one here thinks you an enemy." It was a painfully obvious lie, but there wasn't anything she could say on the matter.

Fuyu took a deep breath and tried again. "Father…" She dug her nails into the palms of her hands. "S-Sorry, I mean King Garon – he ordered me to inspect the fortress near the border… see if it was occupied, take inventory of the supplies stored there… things like that. He promised that no fighting would be required, s-so when I saw that the fortress was occupied, I meant to turn back, but…" She exhaled shakily and unwittingly glanced in Takumi's direction. There was no hostility in his expression like there was the previous day – maybe he was simply hiding it for appearances' sake, or maybe he no longer had any interest in accusing her of treason and whatnot, but whatever it was, it was enough to take the edge off of her anxiety.

"However," she continued, her voice coming out surprisingly clear, "one of the men that accompanied me that day decided to engage the Hoshidan soldiers stationed there. I… failed to stop him. The soldiers retaliated against us, naturally, so we tried to escape. Any further harm done was purely out of self-defense and not aggression on our part."

"Yours and…?" Yukimura prompted her, rubbing his chin.

"Mine, and two other men that were with me," Fuyu answered. "One of them… th-the man responsible for instigating the attack pushed him into the Bottomless Canyon. A-And the other… w-we were separated, and I haven't seen him since. I'm sorry." There were more whispers, but none that she could hear clearly enough.

Rinkah nodded. "I can confirm this," she said. "By the time Kaze and I reconvened with Lady Fuyu, she was most definitely fleeing and not engaging in the attack. Any violence incurred on her part could not have been more than what was necessary to ensure her survival."

"And you are sure of this?" muttered the man standing behind Ryoma. His arms were still crossed stoically over his chest, but he lifted his head slightly, out of the cover of his scarf if not his mask.

Rinkah's eyes narrowed, any semblance of tranquility gone in an instant. "I have no reason to lie."

The man sitting next to her, Akito – her father – turned his head to her. "Peace, Rinkah."

Rinkah clamped her mouth shut and exhaled sharply. "Yes, Father."

One of the old men sitting on the other side of the table. "I suppose it was too much to expect the Nohrians to send someone stronger," he said. "They wouldn't waste one of their generals on something like this."

"Oh, of _course_ not," sneered a middle-aged lady sitting close to the door. "Although, I hear one of the princes is one of their chief tacticians – perhaps he was the one to orchestrate this?"

"I just _told_ you, it was my father who ordered this, not Leo—" Fuyu mumbled – too quietly for anyone but Azura and Takumi to hear her, she realized belatedly.

"Did Lady Fuyu not just say that it was one of her attendants who had gone rogue?" Akito asked. "Clearly, she had no idea this would happen—"

"Though what Nohrian has ever been known for their _honesty_?" the lady shot back.

"More of them than you think," Fuyu whispered under her breath.

"Perhaps the young princess _was_ sent out completely unaware," said the lady, smirking in a way that sent a shiver down Fuyu's spine. "That still says nothing about those working from the safety of the Nohrian capital."

"Perhaps it was their youngest princess," the old man quipped. "They say she's never seen the battlefield, but perhaps her strengths lie elsewhere? Or maybe she's conserving her strength for her, ah, grand debut when she will slaughter us all."

"Honestly," the lady retorted, "we should put an end to that miserable family before they cause any more trouble."

"I do wonder, though. That youngest princess… just who is she? How formidable an opponent must she be for her to—"

"Elise doesn't fight," Fuyu said, a little sharply. Takumi whipped his head in her direction, and the room went silent at her outburst, but she tried to pay it no mind. "She heals. It's Xander, Camilla, and Leo who…"

"A _Nohrian_ healer?" the lady sneered. "Highly dubious. I say we put an end to her as soon as possible, before she gets a chance to…" Fuyu clenched her fists together, ready to object or at least say _something_.

"I refuse," Rinkah said instead. Her voice was calm, but her expression was stormy, almost murderous.

"Rinkah—" Akito began, but Rinkah stood up, paying no heed to his words. Her father pursed his lips together and frowned, though he made no further moves to object.

"I've seen how you Hoshidans fight," Rinkah said, "but in the Flame Tribe, we do things differently. We do not betray those who have helped us in the past, and aside from Lady Fuyu, there are four others in the Nohrian royal family to whom I owe my life." She raised one finger in the air. "Princess Elise, who healed my wounds." She raised another finger into the air. "Prince Leo, who teleported us to safety, after King Garon ordered our deaths." A third finger. "Prince Xander, who ensured our escape." As she raised a fourth finger, her brow furrowed deeper. "And Princess Camilla, who encouraged them all to do so." Rinkah sat back down in her seat and closed her eyes. "My debt does not end with Lady Fuyu, and I will not raise my club against these people… nor will I deliberately harm someone who is incapable of fighting back."

"You spoke nothing of debts upon your return," muttered the man standing behind Ryoma. "Only that, when the opportunity presented itself once more, you would fight and defeat the Nohrians honorably. You forget yourself, Rinkah."

Rinkah glowered at him. "What would _you_ know of this?" she seethed. "You remained safely in Hoshidan territory where there was minimal risk, while we—"

"Utterly failed the mission that had been assigned to you," the man cut her off. "You should have died honorably, rather than relied on the grace of Nohrian scum."

Rinkah stood once more, and Fuyu could swear she saw small wisps of fire swirling around her tightly clenched fists. "I'm surprised that your own brother's life means so little to you, _Lord_ Saizo."

Murmurs swept through the room. Mikoto sighed at the front, her forehead falling into her hand, and Yukimura yelled, ineffectively, for order. "Who was that?" Fuyu whispered to Azura.

"That's Saizo," Takumi answered instead, quietly enough that his voice didn't carry over the cacophony. "Ryoma's retainer, and Kaze's brother."

Fuyu frowned. "Is he always so… _callous_?"

"He's not empathetic, by any means," Azura said, "but I suppose a better way to describe him would be _blunt_. Blunt and… careless with his words."

"He _does_ care for Kaze, mind you," Takumi whispered. "He just doesn't do the best job of showing it."

"He and Kaze aren't very much alike, are they?" Fuyu asked.

"Well, are _you_ similar to your siblings?" Azura asked.

Fuyu scoffed, thinking of Xander, Camilla, Leo, and Elise. "Hardly."

Azura and Takumi didn't say another word, but Rinkah and Saizo still argued, Rinkah's volume escalating as flames swirled about her hands. Perhaps it was similar to Flora and Felicia's powers – strength drawn from fire, passed down through the Flame Tribe, rather than ice. The flames were barely contained, though they didn't reach the table or any of the people seated around it. Perhaps it was a threat, though if it was, Saizo didn't react to it.

Mikoto rose to her feet gracefully. "Enough!" she commanded, yet in a quiet enough voice that she still sounded as kind and gentle as always. "We will not engage the young princes and princesses of Nohr, unless they engage us first. That has always been our creed, and that will not change with the tide of increasing tensions between our countries."

Her proclamation was enough for the room to quiet down altogether, and within seconds, she sat down again, just as gracefully as when she first stood up, and smiled serenely. As if nothing was wrong, the meeting continued.


End file.
